Colonialism and Filipino Professors

It has been argued that colonialism has not been seen in the Philippines since the country declared its independence from the United States. But, neo-colonialism took the place of colonialism and with that wonderful instrument, America stunted many facets of the Philippine system. The fault does not only lie with America, but also with the 300 years of colonization from Spain. The resulting power of the Catholic church in the Philippines has had as much a crippling effect on the Philippines as the export of Hollywood and the American version of democracy in a third world.

The one aspect which I have seen crippled first hand is the attitude of professors who were trained in the Philippines during the 1960's. These professors are now holding prestigious positions as deans and presidents of universities. However, it is in their way of acting and thinking that I can see the effects of colonization most effectively.

I mentioned the lecture in UC Berkeley by Virgilio Almario the Dean of the Literature Department in the University of the Philippines. I ended up attending his lecture and the dinner afterwards because I had not previously met a national artist of the Philippines. That honor belongs to a select few. How much suffering one had to endure to simply become a national artist, I will never know.

At any rate, the lecture was about poetry forms such as the duplo (Tagalog), the dalot (Ilocano), the Komposo (Ilonggot), and the balak (Cebuano). I missed the majority of the first half of the lecture in which the structure of the duplo was discussed. I have to get the book to get that information.

At any rate, I learned that in the colonization days of the Philippines, the Bible was not given to the Philippines masses. Instead, the "Pasyon" which recounts the life of Jesus was the instrument through which the Spaniards and the church controlled the masses. In retrospect, this would make sense because otherwise, the Pin@ys would have found plenty of ammunition for revolts and revolution against the Spaniards if they had the full story of the Bible.

This situation is similar to the way America practices democracy at home versus the rest of the world. America will espouse democracy and freedom to both sides, but the real meaning will be determined by the location. If you are in America, then you have freedom. But if you happen to be in the Middle East, then your freedom will be subject to the nature of your current government whether that government be a dictatorship like Egypt or an oligarchy like that of Saudi Arabia. The conflict of espousing democracy is that sooner or later, you will have to offer the real deal democracy to the world.

At any rate, let us now return to the lecture by Prof. Almario. Poetry was an integral part of the life of Pin@ys. The T'bolis of the Southern Philippines by Lake Lanao use poetry in the courtship tradition. The man will hire a poet to speak about the man's achievements in life. How many animals has the man hunted? How many birds has he captured? How many fruit trees can he locate in a single bound? In turn, the woman will hire a poet to argue about the merits of the man. The success of the courtship is often dependent on the abilities of the contending poets.

In the Tagalog region, the "Karagatan" is a poetic tradition that has been lost. The story is about a princess who loses her ring in the ocean. The participants in the poetry take the point of view of suitors who will dive into the ocean to win the hand of the princess.