The Explainer Newsletter - Issue #2 (Weekend Edition: Passion Projects)
To those who first signed up, thanks for sticking it out. Welcome to everyone else who has subscribed since Issue 1 came out. The idea as this is evolving, is for (fingers crossed!) a newsletter to coincide with my weekly column, so on Wednesdays; perhaps another one on Mondays to track the emerging presidential campaign (at least from now to May, 2022); and a weekend newsletter on more esoteric things including passion projects.
My passion project happens to be The Philippine Diary Project, which I set up in April, 2008 (moving to its own domain in September, 2013) and continue maintain.
This project aims to make diaries written by both famous and unknown Filipinos, and foreigners writing about the Philippines, available to the public. It is a non-profit site. As much as possible, diaries that are out of print, released only in limited print runs, or or which were published online in defunct websites, have been included in order to more fully disseminate those diaries. This diary also features diaries that have never been published either in part or in full. Diaries made available in digital copies in institutional sites, whether libraries or archives, have also been included.
We welcome committed volunteers and those willing to lend assistance scanning, encoding, and proofreading entries. I'm very grateful that so far, it's managed to have been cited not just in popular articles and blog entries but in scholarly journals and publications as well.
More About the Philippine Diary Project
Below is a link to an article I wrote for Spot.ph on The Philippine Diary Project which gives you an overview into what it contains.
The Philippine Diary Project: Yesterday, As If It Were Today — www.spot.ph The Philippine Diary Project aims to preserve history through the memoirs of Filipinos, both known and unknown.
The earliest diary it contains is Antonio Pigafetta's account of Magellan's expedition: in fact we have the text in three versions, Spanish, English, and Filipino. This was the Project's modest contribution to the National Sesquicentennial. This was an interesting time, as it led to a crash course in the prehispanic and early conquest periods.
The Magellan Expedition and Elcano's Circumnavigation: 500 Years - The Philippine Diary Project — philippinediaryproject.com Antonio Pigafetta, a Florentine navigator who went with Magellan on the first voyage around the world, wrote, upon his passage through our southern lands of America, a strictly accurate account that nonetheless resembles a venture into fantasy. In it he recorded that he had seen hogs with navels on their haunches, clawless birds whose hens… Read More »The Magellan Expedition and Elcano’s Circumnavigation: 500 Years
I find the project particularly relevant whenever milestone anniversaries roll around because reseeing those events through contemporary eyes provides valuable context to past events. Last year, which marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, I was able to put forward three remarkable diaries: one by Salvador H. Laurel, who was tasked by his father with chronicling their flight into exile; another, by Antonio de las Alas, a former high government official who wrote a diary while detained in Iwahig Penal Colony facing charges of collaborating with the Japanese; and Leon Ma. Guerrero, lawyer, journalist, and diplomat, who was with the Philippine embassy in Tokyo.
WWII and the Fall of Japan, in the Eyes of Three Filipinos — www.spot.ph The Philippine Diary Project contains three perspectives on the final month of the conflict. From Leon Ma. Guerrero, Salvador H. Laurel, Antonio de las Alas.
Here are a couple more examples of how one can context the past with the present and vice versa, through diaries.
Thoughts on Demarcating the Philippines
Can you see the inset with the little map, below? It's from a wartime article speculating on how the map of the world might be redrawn after World War II. Note the part reproduced represents the Philippines: and that in this postwar possibility that was imagined in 1943, the Philippines includes not Borneo, but parts of the (then) Dutch East Indies or today's Indonesia. This is is because for some time at least, Quezon proposed a Malay Union comprising Indonesia and the Philippines. The diaries of Francis Burton Harrison (he kept a total of three Philippine-related ones; the first, from 1935-37 when he came to live and work in the Philippines as a presidential adviser; 1938 during a visit, and 1942-44 as an adviser to the Commonwealth government-in-exile) also gives a glimpse into the opinions of Filipino leaders about the postwar world, specifically the roles Japan and China would have in it. Quezon's words in particular have proven prophetic.
Philippine wartime views on the future of Indonesia, China and Japan - The Philippine Diary Project — philippinediaryproject.com This 1942 New World Order map attributed to Maurice Gomberg is interesting in that it gives a snapshot of emerging thought about the United States and its sphere of influence after World War II. The map above also seems to include an expansion of the Philippines. See this detail: Which may have had… Read More »Philippine wartime views on the future of Indonesia, China and Japan
My mind having been oriented towards maps, so to speak, meant that a comment made to me by a Spanish historian not only stuck ,but became a fruitful topic for commentary. "Did you know," the historian once told me maybe close to twenty years ago, "that the Philippines as defined by Spain, is very much larger than what you Filipinos consider the Philippines today?" He then proceeded to sketch out borders stretching from the Spratleys to Guam, including the Carolines. I eventually wrote this up with some additional thoughts, for Spot.ph.
Spot.PH Commentary: The Philippines Isn’t What It Used to Be – Manuel L. Quezon III — www.quezon.ph The Philippines Isn’t What It Used to Be Hint: We used to consider Palau part of the country. by Manuel L. Quezon III Jun 12, 2017 (SPOT.ph) We mark Independ...
One of the most recent additions to The Philippine Diary Project had me revisiting, in my mind at least, what I'd written up. It's the diary of Whitelaw Reid, who was part of the American delegation that negotiated the peace treaty with Spain ending the Spanish-American War.
Whitelaw Reid, Author at The Philippine Diary Project — philippinediaryproject.com . . . We were all eagerly expecting a dispatch from Washington, but none had been received. Secretary Day revived my old suggestion about the
Reading Reid's diary, one discovered that the American's weren't of a specific mind as to what, if any, of today's Philippines should be kept; there seems to have been strong opinions against including Mindanao, for example, or even the Visayas; at the same time, the Germans were hovering around, keenly interested in what was happening --as it turns out, they would then swoop in and buy the Carolines from Spain after the Americans decided not to take them.
The President and the Delegate
Another example of diaries fleshing out the past...The other day I noticed this Tweet.
And in turn it reminded me of a clip in the Associated Press video archive. It shows the Manila Hotel with Constitutional Convention delegates, Vice President Lopez, and President Marcos, going in while radical students waving red flags are kept out.
The Philippine Diary Project has the publicly-available diary entries of Ferdinand E. Marcos (or more precisely, I'm in the process of uploading them; these aren't the annotated version on which Ambeth Ocampo has been working for many years; I understand that magnum opus of his is due for publication any day now); but also, we have the diary of a very eloquent 1971 Constitutional Convention delegate, Augusto Caesar Espiritu. It's fascinating comparing and contrasting their views of the closing weeks of the Convention.
The Delegate and the President: Contrasting Diaries on Martial Law - The Philippine Diary Project — philippinediaryproject.com September 23 marks the 41st anniversary of the proclamation of martial law by President Marcos, although Marcos himself insisted on September 21. The Philippine Diary Project has two diaries that give contrasting views on martial law. The first is the diary of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the second, the diary of Constitutional Convention delegate Augusto Caesar… Read More »The Delegate and the President: Contrasting Diaries on Martial Law
The period covered by The Philippine Diary Project is vast: from 1521 to 2021, actually!
Additional Context Needed Department!
Speaking of constitutions... I have to add context to the Saturday column of Mahar Mangahas:
Quezon’s reelection game | Inquirer Opinion — opinion.inquirer.net How sincere was Quezon about caring more for the country than for his office? Don’t listen only to what he said. Pay attention also to what he did.
Mahar Mangahas' column today leaves a lot to be desired, even if one adopts his conclusion. First, the factual errors of which there are two very obvious ones. The first concerns his stating as fact, that the National Assembly (it was due to transform into the Congress of the Philippines on December 30, 1941) was unable to proclaim Quezon and Osmeña the winners of the November 15, 1941 elections. This is not true, see "The President's Week" for December 14, 1941 (six days after the start of the War):
Official Week in Review: December 13, 1941 — www.officialgazette.gov.ph
CONVOKED TO A SPECIAL SESSION by the President to consider war legislation, the National Assembly, at its opening meeting last December 11, approved by a unanimous vote a resolution pledging the full support and cooperation of the Filipino people to the Government of the United States and authorizing the President to place all the resources of the country at the disposal of the American Government “for the prosecution of the war to its successful termination.” The Assembly also released a large amount of public funds for national defense and civilian protection, and proclaimed the reelection of the President and the Vice-President Sergio Osmeña and the election of the 24 Senate candidates of the Nacionalista Party. The resolution of support to the American Government was approved by the Assembly after hearing a special message of the President reiterating our loyalty to the United States and urging the enactment of necessary legislation to meet the existing emergency.
The main part of Mangahas' column is devoted to the amendments to the 1935 Constitution that changed the presidential term from six years without reelection, to four years with reelection. This is, indeed, an important chapter particularly as it contrasts in its successful execution, with Ferdinand Marcos' attempts to amend the same constitution in 1971-73: in the end what Quezon did by public debate and parliamentary maneuver, Marcos had to resort to a self-coup to accomplish. To add context and flesh out the issues and personalities involved, see the 1937-1941 section in the timeline I published, below:
Charter Change: An Annotated Timeline 1934-2014 – Manuel L. Quezon III — www.quezon.ph …[T]he Constitution is not, and should not be, an idol under strict taboos. It is not, and should not be, a strait-jacket for the growing and developing nation which it was made to serve. The C...
Note that the change in presidential term was part of a package of three amendments: to make the presidential term shorter but with reelection; to restore the Senate but make it nationally-elected; and to establish a Commission on Elections.
Mangahas concludes his article with a very brief summary of the Succession Question of 1943. A former editor of the Philippines Free Press, Fritz Marquardt, happened to be in the United States during this time, and interviewed both Osmeña and Quezon on the succession question and how they resolved it.
Quezon and Osmeña, December 15, 1962 « The Philippines Free Press Online — philippinesfreepress.wordpress.com
By the summer of 1943 it became evident that the Philippine presidential issue would have to be resolved. Japanese propaganda broadcasts were proclaiming that Quezon had been forced to go to the United States, and was in fact being held in Washington against his will. If Osmeña should become president, as would happen unless the constitutional limitation on the presidential term were changed, the Japanese would claim Quezon had been stripped of authority by his alleged friends, the Americans. Of course, the Japanese propaganda mills would also work the other way. If Osmeña did not become president, Radio Tokyo would say the Philippine Constitution had been altered at the behest of the US government.
Marquardt in the article above, quotes Quezon as saying it was a pity Osmeña's speech on the resolution of the succession question wasn't given wider publiclity. So, for the record, here it is.
Speech of Vice President Osmeña on relinquishing his right to be President, November 11, 1943 — www.officialgazette.gov.ph
My Countrymen:
A joint resolution was passed by Congress continuing President Quezon in office for the duration of the war. Under this resolution, which has been approved by the President of the United States, my right to succeed to the presidency on November 15, 1943, has been postponed until constitutional processes shall have been restored in the Philippines, Congress acted on this matter upon the request of the Philippine Government in exile and this action of the Philippine Government was taken on my own initiative. I owe it to my people who gave me their confidence in the last elections to state the reasons for my action.
If we were in normal times, my duty would be clear and simple: I would have to assume the presidency on the 15th of this month as a matter of right. Put these are not normal times. Our country not only is at war, but also is occupied by the enemy.
Under these circumstances, our principal concern and primary consideration is to win the war, liberate our people from the invaders, and establish the independence of our country. The question naturally arises: What is the best thing to do in order to help accomplish these aims?
It is unnecessary for me to remind you that President Quezon was the head of our government at the time of the outbreak of the war and that it was his lot to lead our people by the side of the United States. Faithfully and courageously, he has complied with his duty even with his health greatly impaired, His voice continues to encourage our people to resist the enemy and to keep faith with the United States. It was he who signed for us the Declaration of the United Nations. Due to his efforts the Philippines has been given a seat in the Pacific War Council.
A small item of trivia because of Mahar's mentioning Eisenhower as a poker buddy (Eisenhower was such a good player it seems he was able to partially support himself on his poker proceeds as a young officer): I recall my father telling me, when we saw a royal flush autographed by MLQ on display in the Quezon Memorial Shrine, that after 1937 or so, Quezon stopped playing poker because (it seems F.B. Harrison had convinced him) it was unpresidential; instead, he enthusiastically took up bridge, at which Eisenhower was also gifted.
Happy Weekend! Consider lending your support.
I'd like to thank all 134 of you --and counting!-- who've subscribed. And a very big shout out to my very first Patreon, Carlos V. Hugo! At the Praetor-level at that. Thank you, thank you!
So yes Patreon is a handy way to engage in sustainable giving to people you'd like to support. Click on the link below:
The Explainer: Manuel L. Quezon III is creating Historical and political thinking, writing, and broadcasting. | Patreon — www.patreon.com Become a patron of The Explainer: Manuel L. Quezon III today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.
There is buying from my bookstore; this also serves as a handy place to list available books I recommend to fellow readers:
Manuel L. Quezon III Bookshop — bookshop.org An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.
You can also gift me with an Amazon wishlist item, which you can pick from my wish list in case you're so inclined:
Check out my list on Amazon — www.amazon.com
A list of books I'd very much like to have.
Additional Readings
Saw this Tweet today:
Which brings up this past effort of mine, in response to the film about him:
Antonio Luna: A Timeline of Readings – Manuel L. Quezon III — www.quezon.ph Introduction Recently, I came across the Heneral Luna Study Guide, which is an interesting effort to engage teachers. I am sharing a timeline I have compiled of key events and acc...