Copyright 1998 San Antonio Express-News San Antonio Express-News (Texas)
May 26, 1998, Tuesday , METRO
May 26, 1998, Tuesday , METRO
SECTION: S.A. LIFE; Pg. 1, Part D
LENGTH: 1326 words
HEADLINE: Centennial celebration Philippines' independence from Spain at heart of S.A. festivities
BYLINE: Analisa Nazareno; Express-News Staff Writer
BODY:
Black hair and brown skin.
Catholicism and folk culture.
Centuries of Spanish domination.
A struggle for independence and American Manifest Destiny.
Are we talking about Tejanos or people from a Pacific island nation thousands of miles away?
Both, actually.
"For people who live in the Southwest, particularly Texas, there is a common history and culture with the Philippines that most people are not aware of," said Margaret Sullivan, executive director for the Philippine Centennial Foundation, U.S.A. in Washington.
"The Philippines was part of the larger Hispanic world because it was a colony of Spain governed by the viceroy in Mexico. And it was under Spanish rule until 1898," Sullivan said.
Today, Filipinos all over the world, including the few thousand here in San Antonio, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Southeast Asian islands' declaration of independence from Spain.
Locally, Filipinos are celebrating with fiestas and a cultural performance by a dance troupe from the Philippines.
Nationally, the Philippine Centennial Foundation has organized an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, dance performances, a film festival, parades and beauty pageants.
But historians are hoping that during the patriotic stirrings and partying, Filipinos and others will put deep thought to the cultural and historical ties that still bind the Philippines to the United States.
"If Filipinos take a long, serious and mature look at the history, they can have a real reason to celebrate," said Dan Gonzalez, a San Francisco State University professor of history.
Gonzalez said he worries that people will neglect the period after 1898, hen ceded the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris at the end of the Spanish-American War.
Filipinos later fought in bloody rebellions for independence from the United States, then came under control of the Japanese during World War II, and then the Americans again after the war.
"Filipinos have been very selective about what they are celebrating," Gonzalez said.
Like Texans, Filipinos wanted independence from Spain. But while Texas gained independence for 10 years before joining the United States, the Philippines became a U.S. territory under the treaty.
It wasn't until 1946, after World War II and repeated struggles for Philippine nationhood, that Filipinos were able to gain independence from the United States, on July 4.
"It's a really complicated history because of the transition from one colonial regime to another," said Bernardita Reyes Churchill, a professor of Philippine history at both De La Salle University in Manila and the University of the Philippines in Diliman, near Manila.
"The result of it is that Texas and the Philippines both have a combined heritage of Catholic values and institutions and Anglo values and institutions," said David Sweet, a professor of Latin American and Southeast Asian history at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
"The Anglo institutions dominate, but the local Catholic folk beliefs and traditions have tended to persist," he said.
Both Filipinos and Texans of Mexican ancestry, he said, have been able to create for themselves an amalgamation of the culture that was theirs before the Spaniards and the Americans, and the influences of their colonizers.
LENGTH: 1326 words
HEADLINE: Centennial celebration Philippines' independence from Spain at heart of S.A. festivities
BYLINE: Analisa Nazareno; Express-News Staff Writer
BODY:
Black hair and brown skin.
Catholicism and folk culture.
Centuries of Spanish domination.
A struggle for independence and American Manifest Destiny.
Are we talking about Tejanos or people from a Pacific island nation thousands of miles away?
Both, actually.
"For people who live in the Southwest, particularly Texas, there is a common history and culture with the Philippines that most people are not aware of," said Margaret Sullivan, executive director for the Philippine Centennial Foundation, U.S.A. in Washington.
"The Philippines was part of the larger Hispanic world because it was a colony of Spain governed by the viceroy in Mexico. And it was under Spanish rule until 1898," Sullivan said.
Today, Filipinos all over the world, including the few thousand here in San Antonio, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Southeast Asian islands' declaration of independence from Spain.
Locally, Filipinos are celebrating with fiestas and a cultural performance by a dance troupe from the Philippines.
Nationally, the Philippine Centennial Foundation has organized an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, dance performances, a film festival, parades and beauty pageants.
But historians are hoping that during the patriotic stirrings and partying, Filipinos and others will put deep thought to the cultural and historical ties that still bind the Philippines to the United States.
"If Filipinos take a long, serious and mature look at the history, they can have a real reason to celebrate," said Dan Gonzalez, a San Francisco State University professor of history.
Gonzalez said he worries that people will neglect the period after 1898, hen ceded the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris at the end of the Spanish-American War.
Filipinos later fought in bloody rebellions for independence from the United States, then came under control of the Japanese during World War II, and then the Americans again after the war.
"Filipinos have been very selective about what they are celebrating," Gonzalez said.
Like Texans, Filipinos wanted independence from Spain. But while Texas gained independence for 10 years before joining the United States, the Philippines became a U.S. territory under the treaty.
It wasn't until 1946, after World War II and repeated struggles for Philippine nationhood, that Filipinos were able to gain independence from the United States, on July 4.
"It's a really complicated history because of the transition from one colonial regime to another," said Bernardita Reyes Churchill, a professor of Philippine history at both De La Salle University in Manila and the University of the Philippines in Diliman, near Manila.
"The result of it is that Texas and the Philippines both have a combined heritage of Catholic values and institutions and Anglo values and institutions," said David Sweet, a professor of Latin American and Southeast Asian history at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
"The Anglo institutions dominate, but the local Catholic folk beliefs and traditions have tended to persist," he said.
Both Filipinos and Texans of Mexican ancestry, he said, have been able to create for themselves an amalgamation of the culture that was theirs before the Spaniards and the Americans, and the influences of their colonizers.
The San Antonio Express-News owns the copyright to this story. For a full copy of this story, e-mail Analisa and she will send you a clip via e-mail or snail mail.
