chop-suey: elites, plantation systems, colonialism, and Marimar

Warning: this entry will not have a singular theme (not that there should be, anyway).


I am utterly amused with the going-ons regarding that funny woman, malu fernandez. so much hate mail have gone around. I'm just amused at the reaction that the essay has generated. this reminds me of that mustach article on transnational shame. hahaha


One response said, "how noveau riche are you?" The poor woman resigned from her post amid death threats and a flurry of below-the-belt insults.

Still, I am amused at the national furor.

---


A few thousand feet from the ground, you'd have a better look in appreciating Davao's plantation system. Consistent, organized, and actually cost-effective, these farms have been producing agricultural products and have sustained the existence of a metropolitan center. Ah, the spectacle of colonial heritage.

The fact that Davao is also a part of what Anthony Reid described as the 'land[s] below the wind' is evidenced by the fact that it is not part of the typhoon belt. This makes the region more suitable for crops that are easily damaged by the harsher weather conditions in the northern parts of the country. Moreover, I began to imagine Davao as part of a bigger Southeast Asian polity. The point that it is different in terms of Reid's line may be a geographical coincidence, but the historical connection and [illicit] trade (that the governments refuse to acknowledge) in the area between supposedly different states are powerful and observable facts, and cannot be denied forever. So is Davao (and for that matter, Mindanao) more Southeast Asian than Luzon?

In a small-talk session that I've had with some Malaysian scholars, they related that it amazed them when they saw a much more different representation of Filipinos in museums through material culture. Most of the artifacts that they have from the Philippines in their own museums include crafts from Mindanao that when they went to Manila for the first time and saw the rather different exposition, they were [pleasantly?] surprised.

...

For that matter, notice that in almost all AVPs that is produced for the national anthem in television stations and movie theatres, there has to be an reference to the tribes in the mountain regions, and to the Muslim minority from the south.

I can't stop rambling...

---

Flying over the Visayas, I suddenly remembered the local adaptation of the Mexican soap, Marimar. Apparently, the servant girl (of African descent) from the original series was replaced by a Visayan in the attempt of the scriptwriters/screenplay writers to localize the story further.

It amuses me that the category of slave-migrant was easily transposed to signify the Visayan. What is of interest here is the cultural twist: perhaps the writers merely operated with the cultural and ethnic stereotypes of today's Filipino society that largely boxes the Visayan [woman] as househelp. Even if they did rely on cultural stereotypes, here is where the power of historical events shows its prowess.

Among Filipinos, perhaps the Visayans are the most mobile. They are mobile in the sense that they are physically everywhere, swaying to the whims of the prevailing global [capitalist?] system like a bamboo to a strong typhoon. There are interesting parallels to Africa. They were (historically) forcibly uprooted and transposed to another locale. Case in point: the slave trade in Africa operated by the imperial powers, and the slave-raiding activities of the Sulu sakup over the Spanish dominion in las islas Filipinas.

Meanwhile, millions of television lovers are glued to their tubes; they enthusingly watch the localized(?) version of Marimar. They consume the stereotypes, the categorizations. They consume it, and reproduce it... with their complicity to history unknown to many of them.

Full Circle: Bud Dajo, Jabidah, Sulu

Blood flows through Sulu. Fresh blood feeds the earth of this Southeast Asian entrepot. In the ascendant days of American (i)mperialism, the blood of hundreds of wo/men and children gushed on top of Bud Dajo. In the minds of the inhabitants of the Sulu archipelago, this historical scar can never simply fade away. Thousands of insurectos were silenced by the barrel of the American gun. Overpowered, the Moros eventually bowed down to American authority.

A mix of colonial political events dotted history from then on. Hopes were high because "Moroland" became one of the progressive provinces of the Philippines. Machines, steamships, and towns were buzzing with development. Capital flowed from a newly-refurbished Manila. Trade flourished with American and Chinese merchants and plantation capitalists. Everthing looked peachy.

But along with capital, there was a movement that would change Mindanao forever. The massive influx of non-Mindanao people during the regime irreversibly drowned out the Moros. The comparative advantage: migrant Christian lowlanders were palpably more attuned to the new political economic framework being enforced by the forming colonial state. For one, Torrens titling system for land registration was introduced. A massive homesteading program initiated by the state was in full-swing by the 1940s and carried over until the 1960s. Having no clue at all on the new "rules of the game," the Moro was relegated to the background and economically decimated, except for their ruling elites coopted by the state.

Tensions developed along ethnic lines but did not explode, yet. Like a vat filling up with gasoline, Mindanao was transforming into a giant incendiary device waiting for a triger.

Typically, explosives are more powerful when they are compact. Thus in the late 60s up to the early 70s, the southward push of human migration hit a bump. The expansion of the cartographic-political horizons of the (then) relatively successful Southeast Asian nation-state of the Philippines was desired by the president of the time, Ferdinand Marcos. For this purpose, an elite unit was secretly formed and trained by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Perhaps out of boredom (after the Second World War and crushing left-wing peasant revolts) , the AFP arrogantly (and perhaps inspired by their Indonesian counterpart) took it upon itself to steer the course of national-history. As Marcos wanted the Philippines to expand to Sabah, claiming that it is indeed part of the Sultanate of Sulu, their horizons met.

Like a thief in the night, it happened.

The red sun rose. More blood... Fresh blood... but this time, at the mouth of Manila Bay. The silent and rocky hills of Corregidor saw blood flowing through its terrain once more after two and a half decades. This time though, a betrayal of massive proportion hounded the AFP. Martelino and company massacred their recruits, mostly Moros, for similar reasons that the AFP faces today: fighting foot soldiers complained about poor pay, poor living conditions, extreme fatigue - all in the face of the detestable luxuries enjoyed by the high-ranking AFP officials.

Galvanized by the massacre, Misuari and company took the cudgels of steering a budding Moro nationalism and led the Moros through an explosive chapter in history: Moro secessionism. Jabidah had backfired! Marcos was now on the defensive. The Philippines was seriously in trouble of being amputated of its southern leg. Malaysian leaders were probably laughing at Marcos and his ambitious plan that went haywire.

But then, fatigue started setting in for the Moro rebel leaders. In the "re-democratized" context of the post-Marcos years, Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front inked a peace deal that was hailed by world leaders. In time, we saw Manila's knack for cooptation rearing its ugly head once more. Misuari, once an outspoken student leader from the University of the Philippines, metamorphosed with ease into a typical Filipino politician.

Un/Luckily, the government still had to deal with Misuari's contemporaries that have yet to be appeased. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front made its presence felt after the inking of the peace deal during the Ramos years. Add to this, the scourge that the Abu Sayyaf brought upon Ipil, its kidnapping activities, and its knack for beheading its hostages scored headlines in Manila. This prompted the shamed politicians and military leaders to open the floodgates of bullets and bombs. Hell hath no fury like Manila scorn.

The state of the nation was once more a killing spree. Efforts by Moro groups to bring the bloodbath closer to Manila were manifested as the Rizal Day bombings, the various bomb-threats in buses, malls - all to make the Manileño feel the pains of war that it had brought upon Mindanao. They wanted the residents of Manila to share in the feast that the government has so generously bequeathed unto the Moros in the last four decades: fire on flesh. Condemnable, yes - but it cannot be denied that these are the same weapons of the weak that Aguinaldo, Bonifacio, and all those "revolutionaries" used to achieve their ends.

And we come full circle: The latest incursions in Sulu have proven fatal for the unsuspecting soldiers. Some have their own versions of the speculated "conspiracies" surrounding the matter. Worse, some elements in the military and the government are using the smokescreen of an ongoing battle to buy themselves some time to cover-up whatever "tactical errors" they have committed. They have, along with (possibly) paid journalists, condemned attempts or calls by some (possibly) well/ill-meaning individuals and groups to investigate the matter.

A bad mix of local and national politics, corruption in the military, and the dynamics among "organizations" such as the MILF, the renegade groups of MNLF, and the Abu Sayyaf have resulted in a complicated situation that many fail, or more importantly refuse to see. Some political anthropologists have already pointed out that the lines between these "organizations" aren't exactly clear-cut as Manila politicians see it. People love to see things in black and white, hence drowning out the color of blood, and the media are more than happy to oblige.

The sad reality: these aren't new, yet we, especially the media, (some pretentious?/incompetent?) scholars, military tacticians, and veteran politicians, refuse to see this. Instead, what we see is a rattling of sabers, a show of force.

Like Persia descending upon Greece, the AFP's machinery has been unleashed upon Sulu. But the AFP has a new toy. Actually, a recycled toy: American military might. US forces engaged in the Balikatan exercises have been allegedly helping in the conduct of frontline operations against the Moro rebels. Yet another fitting role for our colonial masters.

Blood flows through Sulu. Yet despite the lack of color, the nation is plagued with the smell of blood mingling with the tears of countless souls.