A little history lesson

Fort Santiago

On Saturday I went on a tour, something I normally don't do, without about fifty other people. The tour was of Intramuros, the Spanish fortress of Manila. I am so glad I went on this tour because it was awesome– very informational and the tour guide was hilarious. As I mentioned in my last post, the Philippines is very different from what I was expecting, it is nothing like the Southeast Asia I have experienced. The reason being: Spanish and American colonization. So quick history bit: the Spaniards settled down in the Philippines in the 16th Century to colonize and Catholicize. Prior to their arrival the Philippines was predominantly an Islamic country, and still is in certain regions, which is the cause for a lot of Filipino headlines regarding certain groups that make people worry back in the good old U.S of A. Don't be worry (thanks Co Thuy for that useful saying) I am wary of all travel advisories. Back to the history: Spain legally owned the Philippines– all Filipinos were under the Spanish law. Fast forward a few hundred years to 1896. Spain was falling apart and Filipinos began to revolt. Enter into the picture: Dr. Jose Rizal, Filipino's national hero. He wanted the Philippines to be an independent country and wrote two books about liberation, freedom, and the potential of the Philippines. He was well educated, eloquent, and was a natural born leader, which scared the Spaniards so they executed him. Rizal's final weeks, or maybe months (sorry I can't remember) were spent in a cell inside the fortress. His last day he was led out to the entrance of Fort Santiago to be executed. Today, his last walk is marked by these gold footprints:

Rizal

Two years later Spain sells the Philippines (along with Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam. It was a good deal, buy one get three free) for 20 million dollars to the USA. Time for Americanization. Remember how in my last post I marveled over the similarities between University of the Philippines and American universities... well, it's because it is an American education system. The Senate that I have been visiting for the past week is extremely similar to America's... because it was first implemented as an American-style political system. Also, Americans brought English, which is why the Philippines is currently the third largest English speaking country. Some of the words that were first introduced to Filipinos in the form of advertising have stuck. For example, all toothpaste is Colgate. Regardless if you are squeezing Crest onto your toothbrush, you don't call it toothpaste, you call it Colgate. Similar deal with soda– all soda is coke, sorry pepsi. And Kodak, is a verb.

Exit America in 1935 and the Philippines was finally an independent country. At this point, Manila was known as the Pearl of the Orient. It was one of the fastest developing cities in Asia and was known across the world as the gateway of east meets west. Unfortunately, this would be the peak of Manila, it went downhill from there.

Start: World War II with the Japanese invasion in 1941. Right after Pearl Harbor was bombed the Japanese moved onto the Philippines. MacArthur, the American general,  received warning of Japan's potential arrival in the Philippines but chose to ignore them, thinking the Japanese wouldn't waste time on the Philippines. He was very wrong to do so, since the Japanese arrived half a day later and ruthlessly attacked Filipino and American troops. MacArthur eventually fled the Philippines with the parting infamous words of, "I shall return." The Japanese continued their invasion and strict regime. In 1945 MacArthur did return to the Philippines and engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese who in turn, massacred 70,000 Filipinos in what is now known as the Manila Massacre. Japanese soldiers walked through the streets and killed Filipinos simply because they were "too American." They would break into houses and kill people while sleeping and they even visited hospitals and killed the patients including new born babies who they tossed into the air and then caught on their swords. MacArthur decided the best way to stop the Japanese was through bombing Manila. At the end of the day, a total of 150,000 Filipinos were killed and Manila was ruined. What had once been known as the Pearl of the Orient was a pile of rubble. Intramuros was ruined except for St. Augustin Church, only because the Red Cross was stationed in the remaining tower.

San Augustin and the last tower.

Manila has yet to bounce back to what it once was, and I don't really see how it ever will since the government can't simply rebuild Intramuros and make it a cultural attraction. Our tour lasted about three hours even though there weren't many sights to see (because it was all ruined in the bombings). Mainly the tour consisted of sitting and listening– we would go to a building, sit down, and listen intently as our guide explained in detail the history of the place. At the end of the tour we all got halo-halo (the dessert with beans, corn, fruit, etc.) because as our tour guide explained, halo-halo is like Filipinos, it is a mix of a lot of different things. Maybe the best example is the Filipino language, called Filipino. It is a mix of Tagalog, the native language, Spanish, and English. I love listening to it because I can pick up the Spanish, and obviously the English words. I bought a Filipino to English dictionary. I am going to try harder to learn Filipino than I did Vietnamese.

So, I now understand why the Philippines is so different from Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. I am going to try and stop comparing everything to Vietnam– lets see how well I do. I have a much better understanding of Filipino culture and history thanks to this tour!

More food:

adobo, THE dish of the Philippines, pork and chicken
stewed in vinegar and garlic.

Pinakbet na hipon, vegetables and shrimp.