Stage Two: Cleared!

Finally, my report in my Kas 226 class! Now all that's left are the book reports, the term paper proposals, my Kas 110 draft...

But for now, I am thankful that I made it through the two reports despite the most mysterious phenomena that had been plaguing me this week -- tila hindi nagkakasundo ang laptop ko at ang LCD projector...thus in my Kas 205 report the class had to view my presentation on the laptop screen while in my Kas 226 a similar fate was avoided due to the timely intervention of Sir Marlon, who lent his laptop for our use in class.

One positive thing about our Kas 226 class is that since we're a small class (6 students and Prof Jose) we have now ended up as good buddies. During the reportings the exchanges were light and humorous, even Prof Jose would break out into chuckles at times and even *gasp* Mr Sungit would break out into quiet laughter. Believe it or not!

My B & R adventures are also positive this week. I found a few nuggets of information that could prove useful for my paper in Kas 110.

Patience and Perseverance. Thank God I still have these.

As a reward for myself, I spent the whole night reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. hehe Even I didn't see the twist coming in the last few chapters. Riveting.

The Blair and Robertson Adventures

Wish me luck. 50 plus volumes kaya ang The Philippine Islands nina Blair and Robertson. My seach for the words 'crime' and 'punishment' in the B&R index led me to EIGHT pages of related topics - at bumabaha sa page numbers, sabog-sabog pa sa bawat volume.lintek para akong accountant kanina sa lib -- listing down page numbers in sequential (or semi-sequential order),and arranging them according to volume. Deconstructing the index is a LOT of work...

My search for the history of the judicial system of the spanish colonial government in the Philippines led me into the UP Law Library and its labyrinth of bookshelves. Alas, my search for books was unsuccessful as I did not find the books I was looking for. Pero at least hindi ako pinagpawisan sa paghahanap dun...

Hay...ba't ko ba kinakarir ang paper para kay Spiderman?

I'm seeing Red

Kung si Pebi nagkakanosebleed sa mga binabasa niya. Ako parang namumula na ang mga mata ko. hehe Finished reading James Allen's The Radical Left on the Eve of War and I'm currently going through Communism in the Philippines: The PKP (Book 1). Coincidentally (or not), both books have red covers. Yung PKP book may hammer and sickle pa sa likod. hahaha

Nakigulo na rin si Dancing Prof. For about 15 minutes, he was quizzing us on our readings for the research paper. It's a good thing I've read Bankoff a few weeks ago so I was confident in my reply: "Sir binasa ko po si Bankoff...Greg Bankoff po...Crime, State and Society in the 19th Century Philippines po..."

Now I'll be forced to start reading for Kas 110. Bluffing can only take me so far...hanggang August na kalbaryo 'to! Ginapa-utwas lang sa blog! hahahaha

The Fast and the Furious...Reader

Been on the fast track since thursday. I have to prepare for a class report on Kas 205 and 226. Haven't heard from Dancing Prof about our research outline so I'm putting it at the back of my mind for now. What I am focusing on is my report on the Communist Party of the Philippines for Kas 205.

I've read Saulo. Kerkvliet I'm currently reading. I've read these guys before on Kas 112 so medyo na-memorize ko na ang ilang mga chapters nila hehe...

Next on the line is another Kerkvliet. that THICK thesis by a guy named Hoeksema (this one I'm dreading to read AGAIN). Simbulan (as per recommendation by a friend). Abaya (love this guy -- you can almost feel the anger rising from the pages). Then the biographies of the PKP and Huk personalities -- Crisanto Evangelista, the Lava brothers, Luis Taruc, Joma Sison (maybe,I'm thinking only Philippine Society and Revolution), I'm still trying to get a copy of Pedro Abad Santos' biography (nasa Pampanga raw?) and the PKP history written by one of the Lavas, Jesus I think...

It's a good thing I have sources here who can help me with tracking down elusive books on Philippine Communism (mga galamay, in short hehe). I don't expect to get (and read) them all. I'm giving myself this week for 205, then next week will be devoted to 226 -- this time the topic will be on preWW2 American policy in Asia.

Meron pang book review for my two MA courses...I haven't continued my initial readings for my Kas 205 term paper...wala pa akong maisip na topic for Kas 226...may research pa kay Dancing Prof...

At least I still have time to blog...hahahaha

Try Saying This Three Times...with Feelings, ha?

In the whole time I spent searching for documents and books at the UP Main Library, this is the first time I've come across this book title that reads like a tongue twister. Try saying this three times in rapid succession -- with feelings...

The Civil Law in Spain and Spanish-America, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Philippine Islands, and the Spanish Civil Code in force, annotated and with references to the civil codes of Mexico, Central and South America, with a history of all the Spanish, Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican autonomical constitutions, and a history of the laws of the Indies -- Recopilacion de leyes de los reynos de las Indias.

*Ditch takes a deep breath*

Linte! Grabe nga title bah! Basahon ko pa ni? hahahaha Kakululba-an nga libro...

Siguradong nosebleed dito si Prof Llanes kasi ilalagay ko ito sa list of references ko sa ipapasang balangkas namin sa Miyerkules. At the moment I'm deep into composing this outline. I've heard rumors that no submitted research outline has ever passed Llanes' scrutiny at the first instance of passing. Well, there's always a first for everything...hehehe

Why Pinoys should fight, by Sultan Kudarat

Consider this a belated Independence Day post. I am currently reading The Roots of the Filipino Nation (vol. 1) by Onofre D. Corpuz. One of the prominent features of this book is Corpuz' focus on the Muslim community during the Spanish colonial period.

Medyo nga dehado ang mga taga-Visayas and Luzon as our pre-Hispanic forefathers were unable to effectively counter the Spanish 'onslaught'. Corpuz credits the Muslim communities in Mindanao for having effectively resisted the Spaniards through the centuries -- even becoming a credible threat to the colony estabished in the archipelago.

In the chapter dealing with early revolts, Corpuz mentions at length the Muslim resistance. In his account of one of the dealings between the Spaniards and the datus of Maranao, Corpuz describes the intervention of Sultan Kudarat when it seemed that some of the datus were thinking of subjecting themselves to the Spanish crown.

Corpuz presents the so called "lecture" of Kudarat to the wavering datus. This is taken from a Jesuit account of Kudarat's meeting with the datus:

"What have you done? Do you know to what submission will reduce you? a toilsome slavery to the Spaniards! Turn your eyes to the nations that have submitted, look at the misery to which these once proud nations have been reduced...Do you not see how any Spaniard tramples them underfoot?...Will you suffer just anybody with some Spanish blood to thrash you, or that he seize the fruits of your sweat and labors?"

Then Sultan Kudarat cajoles the datus, asking them what have they got to lose in resisting. If they fight, they would risk a disruption of their livelihood. To this Sultan Kudarat commented:

"The loss of our harvests for one year is a small price to pay for liberty."

Reading Kudarat's words as recounted in the document, I felt that the words still ring true today. Even if we're already done fighting the Spaniards, we as a nation still have a lot of 'enemies' in our midst. Should we allow ourselves to acquiesce quietly, to still our voices at the injustice and inequalities around us? What are we willing to sacrifice in our fight for our freedom?

Sultan Kudarat's voice still echoes through the centuries...

A 17th Century Tale of Love...and Vengeance (Parte Dos)

para sa mga nakaantabay, ang kasunod na yugto hehe...

From The Manila Galleon, by William Lytle Schurz, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc, 1959 [revised citation format po ito, baka may magreklamo hehe]

Meanwhile, when the pilot had reached Manila and cleared the 'Santa Rosa' again for Acapulco he left a number of spies commissioned to find La Plana. They searched every recess in the Philippines and carried their hunt overseas to China and Japan, and to Goa [a city in India] and the Moluccas. At last one of the spies found him [La Plana] in Macao, where he had entered the service of the Portuguese. He [the spy] skillfully inveigled him [La Plana] into returning to Manila by representing to him that his crime had been forgotten and by holding out to him the prospect of marriage with a certain rich widow.

The spy accompanied La Plana back to Manila, where he [the spy] informed Galvez, who had returned again from Acapulco, of the success of his search. The 'Santa Rosa' was tied up at Cavite, pending the usual repairs for her next voyage, and the only persons aboard were the pilot [Galvez] and a few watchmen. On the pretext that he was to share in some contraband cargo the spy rowed La Plana across to Cavite and up the side of the galleon. As they climbed to the deck Galvez seized his man and threw him violently to the deck. He then had the spy tie their left hands together for a duel to the death. When this was done he ordered his opponent to draw his dagger and defend himself. After the pilot had stabbed him several times, La Plana managed to free himself in the scuffle and made a dash for the rigging. Galvez climbed after him, his dagger between his teeth, but the wounded man slipped and fell to the deck, breaking his back in the fall.

La Plana was then bundled overboard and into the boat, which Galvez and the spy rowed back to the walled city. It was night when they entered through the postern gate, dragging the form of La Plana after them. They took him to an old house in Calle Rada, the haunt of criminals and broken men. Here they propped him up on a pallet, while Galvez showed him a miniature [portrait?] of Doña Solina. After the doomed man's request for a priest and for water and a surgeon had been denied, he was informed that he had been brought there to die. While Galvez repeated the story of the crime that had prompted his vengeance, he placed the open locket on a chair facing La Plana, where he could not avert his eyes from the portrait.

Here he lingered for three days, the lower half of his body paralyzed by his fall on the ship and always under the eyes of the spy who had tracked him to the Chinese coast. When he died the friars of the 'Misericordia' came and buried him in an obscure spot.

Shortly afterward Galvez piloted the 'Santa Rosa' eastward on his last voyage. At Acapulco he quit the sea forever. For a time he wandered over Mexico as a penitent, visiting one shrine after another, but always returned to Acapulco. Then, one day people found him dead by the grave of Doña Solina, her miniature in his hands, and the monks of San Hipolyto's convent buried him beside her.

Grabe! this story has it all...a tragic romance, multiple locations fitting an epic movie, a protagonist driven by vengeance, a story filled with intrigue, greed, action...kulang na lang screenplay, director, producer, at mga artista to play the lead characters pwede nang movie. My imaginary cast for this imaginary movie includes Antonio Banderas as Guillermo Galvez, Salma Hayek as Solina [I was thinking of putting Penelope Cruz in this role, pero methinks hindi siya bagay sa role ng tragic heroine], Alan Rickman as Sebastian La Plana [loved Rickman in Sweeney Todd, bagay siyang kontrabidang mang-aagaw ng asawa], Gael Garcia Bernal as the spy [para siguradong panonoorin ni Pebi]. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Screenplay by Neil Gaiman,Pedro Almodovar and Michael Ditchella [kailangan talagang isingit hahahaha]. Inspired by the book The Manila Galleon by William Schurz. Produced by StudioCanal and Miramax para independent ang dating. Filmed in location at Mexico and the Philippines. Kulang na lang title...any suggestions?

A 17th Century Tale of Love...and Vengeance

I am currently halfway through The Manila Galleon by William Schurz. This classic and pioneering work on the Galleon trade is indeed full of surprises because in the midst of the discussions on regional trade and the intricacies of trading during almost 3 centuries...meron pang love story na nasingit si Prof. Schurz...

The story of one of the galleon pilots would rival modern-day soap operas and romantic/tragic/action movies. So here it is...una historia de Señor Geronimo Galvez, vais a leer por favor...

Few pilots saw such a long and honorable service as Geronimo Galvez. Certainly the life of none was more dramatic. Galvez was a native of the ancient coast town of Cartagena and from his early years had followed the sea, first the Mediterranean and later on the Atlantic between Cadiz and the West Indies. There was much Moorish blood in the people of his native city and his own orthodoxy was suspect to the Inquisition. So was that of his young wife, Solina, whose father had died on the rack in the dungeons of the Holy Office, and whose mother had shortly afterwards died of grief.

To escape the vigilance of the inquisitors Galvez and his wife emigrated to New Spain [modern-day Mexico] and after a year in Vera Cruz crossed the country to Acapulco. Thence, in 1689, the pilot took the 'Santa Rosa de Lima' [a galleon ship]across the Pacific to Manila, while Doña Solina remained in Acapulco. For three years there was no threat to their happiness, though the intervals between their reunions were long. Then, in 1692, a young courtier [nobleman] from Madrid, named Sebastian de la Plana, arrived at Acapulco on his way out to the Philippines. While he awaited the sailing of the galleon he stopped at one of the inns at the port. Wandering about the town, he discovered the pilot's wife [Solina] and quickly became infatuated with her. When his advances were rebuffed, La Plana had her seized by ruffians [think typical bad guys in movies] as she was strolling along the shore of the bay and ravished her. Returned to her home she wrote a last letter to her husband, recounting La Plana's attack on her, and within a few days died, whether from grief or poison was never known. Shortly afterward La Plana boarded the west-bound galleon for Manila, and was well at sea when Galvez arrived at Acapulco on the Santa Rosa.

When he heard of the circumstances of his wife's death the pilot swore vengeance on La Plana, whom he considered her murderer. He had a monument raised to Doña Solina's memory in the cemetery at Acapulco and on it had carved the unfinished line: 'I will repay--.' In terror of Galvez' revenge, La Plana, on arriving at Manila, changed his name, grew a beard and had his face altered and scarred by a surgeon in order to conceal his identity.

The story gets interesting once Señor Galvez arrives in Manila in pursuit of La Plana...will Geronimo exact his vengeance on La Plana?

Again, this is a true account based on primary historical sources, hindi po ito scripted hehe. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow...promise...