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A RENEWD INTEREST AND ANALYSIS OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY.

(ITS WRITING AND DELIVERY)

EMMANUEL S. CALIWAN
Freelance lecturer, researcher, social and literary critic, praxisman.

A man ought to spend the first part of his life conversing we the dead, the
second with the living and the third with himself1.---- Carlyle.

As any social scientist in a country pervaded by western text would

experience, alienation to the matter they oath to study. The only way to battle
such academic dilemma is to incorporate in their works a deep and critical
knowledge on the history of once nation yet one should be aware that the case of
history writing is also one with politics2. Moreover, such politics would render a
historical neurosis a thing which would not give its populace a sense of
enlightenment but a sense of alienation and dehumanization.

AMBETH OCAMPO AND REFLEXIVE HISTORY

In this point of time, it is worth taking the lecture of one of those I

consider as enlightened historian of our contemporary age as to what history
should be and oath to be. I am referring here to Prof. Ambeth R. Ocampo
(currently as I am writing this article the chair of the National Historical Institute.)
In his book entitled Meaning and History the Rizal lectures( Ocampo,2001) he
started with an introduction with the same title discussing the working definition
of history, which he adopts, and we should need to adopt as to understand the
place history its essence playing in our life and society. As it is written this same
introduction is given as a lecture on the national seminar on social science
teaching in the Philippine Normal University hosted by the Pambansang Samahan
ng mga Guro ng Agham Panlipunan on May 1, 1993.
According to his the lecture Prof. Ocampo is much adept on using the
working definition of Kasaysayan or history as a narrative( which can be written,
visual, oral or a combination of all three) about past events that has meaning to a
certain group of people in a given time and place. As he is saying the two
components of kasaysayan---salaysay and saysay are inseparable. Further more he
1
The Three stages of life. By Andre Maurois
2
When using the term politics I mean power relations, which in the process blinds the other-
those that are below the controlling power. Moreover, does not create enlightenment but that of
alienation and neurosis.
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says that he feels strongly more about kasaysayan than the western word for
history because in the latter, history can be a mere narrative of past events while
kasaysayan is not just a mere narrative of past events or salaysay---it must have
saysay or meaning. Finally he asserts that if we find meaning in history, then it
will gain the power to change our lives. Saysay gives us a way of looking at the
world, a Filipino viewpoint that influences the way we see the past, the present,
and hopefully, the future. (Ocampo,2001)
Reading Prof. Ocampos books make me a real lover of history, a
reflexive and analytic reader of history. In all of his books that I have read I have
seen how he gives life to a seemingly dead bodies of knowledge. His way of
writing is that of a reflexive one as you can see he add the twist of life to
everything which he writes. In a foreword to his book entitled Mabinis Ghost
(Ocampo,1995) Carmen Guerrero Nakpil states that:

The cause of history writing owes Ambeth Ocampo a great deal. By his
extraordinary use of a relatively new genre, he has rescued history from
the cold, forbidding halls of the academe, populated for so long by
highbrow scholars, and dyspeptic textbook writers. He has brought it into
the full light of everyday life, into coffee shop, the bus stop, and the
family reunion. He has made of history something amusing, entertaining,
to be passed on like a piece of neighborhood gossip.

Now let us assess what have we gain in learning history in schooldays. I

for one have seen in my students that history assimilation be a great major
problem in students from elementary, highschool up to college or university level.
Doing my own research on the matter, point to a great cause of the problem which
is --- history writing and teaching relays heavily with memorization of dates,
names and events which students dont see any use of. Textbooks are made as if
everything written there are of the past and do not touch the lives of
contemporary men and women. Teachers on their part do not anymore integrate
the contents of history to what is happening today but focus on their students
memorizing unpronounceable names and forgettable dates. Utilitarian principle of
teaching is lost. I remember the time when I m a student in SMS in Silang, Cavite
there is no time of the day when our class ends that I would ask my teachers of
whats the use of the lesson for the real life I live. And now I have already found
the answer the answer lies with --- REFLEXIVITY. And that for one I m very
grateful with the way Prof. Ocampo delivers and writes history. His concept of
history those far illustrated is not memorizing forgettable dates, unpronounceable
names and strange places. History is not just telling our students funny stories.
History is making people see their past, thereby giving them a sense of being
Filipinos. If memory gives us our national memory and eventually that elusive
thing we call national identity. History gives us a way of looking at the world and
dealing with it and its problems. History contributes to our being Filipino,
whatever that is (Ocampo,2001). Even at times historian from the other side of
the spectrum hurls such indecisive criticism on Ambeth being so passionate about
history that his history reflects the everyday mood swings and hang-ups of the
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historian. Therefore, history is not presented as it is and its some kind of

deception to the readers3.
The blogger surely a student of history from the University of the
Philippines, Diliman has a good concept of history that he has gained from
reading Ocampo. The blogger states that:

My point is while historians are trained to be fair and to get all sides, we
are not trained to be objective. Theres no such thing as objectivity in
history as Teodoro Agoncillo said. However, the historian should be
guided by what his consciencethinks is right and what he deems
important. It is true then, that a historical account is a personal judgment
and interpretation of the historian on what he sees is right based on the
facts confronting him in the face.

But of course, conscience and the concept of rightness and wrongness

of something is based on culture. You know very well that it would be
hard for a person to turn away from the values and the things thought to
him when he was young, especially the universally accepted onesTake
for exampleyourselfthat even if you think youre a pseudo-leftist of
some sort you still cant leave your religion, even if its attacked on all
sides by the Protestants and even by those whom you think are with you in
the struggle.

It depends on the reader if he would take everything the historian says.

The reader also have the responsibility to judge whatever historical
account theyre reading. Ambeth have already written his, Agoncillo have
already written his, Constantino have already written his, why dont you
write your own history and widely proliferate it and let the people decide,
or have they already decided? Judging on the sales (But of course, youll
say that the masses dont have money to buy their historyand they dont
read history either, or at least almost all of them. Admit it!)

And whats wrong if what Ambeth is writing reflects his everyday self.
Dont you think its very easy to read a history that seems relevant to our
lives? Its functionalwhen heroes become like us, and not someone
irrelevant up there on the pedestal, even the masses would enjoy reading
history. Wont you like that?

And whats wrong if we historians are passionate about our craft? Dont
you see it as an advantage? We would write better, research more eagerly,
and remember very well. And if you say we forget the struggle. We dont.
Who doesnt want to alleviate the poverty of our poor kababayans? Its
just that your ways and theories are different from ours. Our task as
historians is to relate history as honestly as we can and to hope that people
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Retrieved from a blog article entitled Defending Ambeth Ocampo December 11, 2003
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would deem it relevant and learn from it, apply it in their lives. The
lessons of history are powerful, my friendthey change lives and the
course of history itself. Thats our job. If you want to be a fighter, a street
parliamentarian, a nun, so be it. We all have our functions in society. Do
yours, let me do mine.

[and] I cannot please everybody. As long as Im guided by what I think

is right when Im interpreting history, my conscience is clear.

( this is an excerpt on my new paper on Philippine history hope you like it..)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Emmanuel S. Caliwan is a newly grad from the Polytechnic University of the

Philippines, Sta. Mesa Manila. Awarded his Bachelor of Science degree in
Sociology just last May 14, 2010. His theoretical and research projects include a
wide range of discipline from sociology, psychoanalysis, history, jurisprudence,
law, forensic psychology and social change. Yet he seems to be more interested in
theorizing about human evil and how can we battle such evil. However,
sometimes he dubs in varied discipline (of which he is also interested) because as
he firmly believes this disciplines would help him liberate the minds of his
countrymen for them to aim to empower the hopeless. He previously done his
work inside the Manila city jail, teaching inmates on behavioral studies so that
they can see their place in the society where they belong. Some of his writings can
be read here in Scribd .com like The Ampatuan Maguindanao Massacre: a
psychoanalytic-sociological study of why people do heinous crimes. (A paper he
also presented during the annual Philippine League of Sociology Students
conference in UP, Diliman) and that of his short essay on Cory and the Filipino
people. His undergraduate thesis is entitled: The Sociology of Jurisprudence An
inquiry in the criminal litigation in the Philippines: Wealth, Prestige and
Knowledge/Power complex (an initial exploration). He aims to institutionalize
cultural studies in the Philippines. An avid anime and manga fan his next paper
would be on the Asianization of the Philippines.