Despite the fact of SOME millenary Pre-Hispanic cultures in Philippines+Spanish Pacific+Latin-sic America having produced some historical records, some even put in writing by the first Spanish friars... We cannot deny that the type of countries that we are today, were formed on the Spanish mold, that is why we split, to create a NEW SPANISH state, a REPUBLIC; well, the gringos took that away from Aguinaldo and Bonifacio, Rizal himself wanted a Republic a-la-Spanish, not a-la-gringo. For our countries, today, the most important part of our history is NOT the times before Spain, but the times DURING Spain. Why? That is when our CULTURES AND WAYS OF LIFE came to be. Not one single preHispanic Filipino, or Latin-sic American, could have anything to do with us today; their cultures are fused into ours, but we are neither preHispanics nor Africans. How do we know what, who we are, if we do not read our history? Is our history ONLY the one before Spain? On the other hand, is our history that of the different African tribes, in the case of Latin-sic America? Once again, their cultures are fused into ours.

Are we Spanish? No, we are Mestizos. "We Are All Mestizos", as the brilliant Dr. Zialcita has put it, the case happens on both sides of the Pacific Pond. The terms "Hispanic, Latino", are used today, but "Hispanic" seems to be less idiotic than Latino is.

Filipinos are Hispanic. The only way to cleanse The Philippines from being "Filipinos", which I write about in my piece xxx, is to change the entire cuisine, traditional folk music, dances, names, eradicating the Catholic Faith and converting everybody into NON-Spanish names and last names. Changing the country name helps, but since they will have to change their traditional cuisine, they will also have to eradicate from the archipelago some crops and techniques which would create big polemics today; regarding this, I will reproduce some excerpts from Guillermo Gómez Rivera, which can suggest to you how big would the impact be if we removed what the Spanish Empire brought here:

“…To economically develop and sustain the Filipino State, the Spanish Friars brought to the Islands the horse (kabayo, caballo) from Mexico and China, the carabao (kalabaw) from Vietnam, the cow (baka, vaca), the sheep, the gueeze (gansá), the turkey (pavo) and mule (mula, kabayong mola) from Spain...  /  To enrich the land and its indigenous (Indio) impoverished inhabitants, the same Spanish Friar missionaries brought them, with their version of agricultural technology, the plow (arado,araro), the hoe (azadón, asarol), the technology of irrigation (riego) and cultivation and industrial crops like sugar cane, corn, maní, couffee, cacao, camote (camotelc), potatoes, ube, gabe taro, casava, sincamas, indigo, papaya and vegetables like tomatoes, onions, garlic, patola, patani, hot chili (sili), pepper (pamiyenta), páprica, squash, watermelon (sandía), and fruit trees like, lanca, papaya, guayabábano, guayabas, santol, camachile (camachitelc) , caimito, dates (cerezo), avocado, macopa, mangoes, atis, sayote, achuete, etcetera. /  All these vegetables and fruit trees and animals of burden greatly changed for the better and clearly improve the daily diet of the native indigenous, or the Indios, enabling them to be healthier, more productive and to increase in population from the original half a million that they were at the arrival of the Spaniards and the Mexicans to the ten million that they became by the 1890s.”

Until you eradicate all this, it is fare to say that Filipinos are Hispanic.

Jessica Alba and JLo are Hispanic, according to the USA. Christina Aguilera, Frankie Muniz, Antonio Villaraigosa (with the misspelled name), even Bill Richardson.  However, consider this: Jessica hates her Mexican heritage, she has said it repeatedly; if she eats tacos and quesadillas, it is because ALL Californians do. JLO could speak less "Spanish"-sic than Villaraigosa when she began her career, it took her painful years of appealing to the "Hispanic" crowds, but her best strategy to "hispanicize" in depth, was marrying Mark Anthony, another "Hispanic" born and raised in the USA but pretty much alive in his heritage, unlike her. I have yet to see Frankie performing mainstream, traditional "Hispanic" roles in Hollywood movies and ABC series, perhaps a drug-dealing, tattooed cholo, with his blonde appearance, and most of all speaking "Spanish"-sic.  Antonio Villaraigosa "Spanish"-sic is horrible, it is actually Spanglish, and that is because he, like everybody else born and raised in the USA, has MORE English vocabulary than Castilian does. Bill Richardson has this mainstream Anglo-Saxon name, yet you should see him campaigning in Castellano using his heritage.

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1. Los Documentos

Therefore, you do not have to speak Castellano to be Hispanic, says Uncle Sam. YET, this I present to you: Have you visited Washington DC, Pennsylvania? Have you visited the famous Hall of Independence, have you seen the Act of Independence of the USA? Aren't you thrilled to be able to see one of their scrolls from the times of the foundation of their country? You can read them, they are in English, even if it's old-er English. Now. Should you be excited to read the gringos' historical records, and transcribe them, into English, ANY MORE than you should be reading and transcribing your own? Have you attempted to read one of the historical records, in their originals, of your country, other than the gringo-manipulated-production of Blair and Robertson? Can you read your Act of Independence?
"Under the editorship of Blair and Robertson, a massive 55-volume set was produced between 1903 and 1909. Under the title The Philippine Islands: 1493-1898, these volumes contain nearly 20.000 pages of historical documents and books translated to English and provided with notes and introductions. Even today, these books are indispensable for serious students of Philippine history."

Can you, as a sovereign country that you aim to be, with an independent legion of Historians and Students, compare the original books in Castellano versus the Blair and Robertson books? Did you stop to think that Blair and Robertson's translations are of SPECIFIC documents, with SPECIFIC portrayals and proofs requested from the RULER of the archipelago at the moment, the USA through Taft? This is an occupying power justifying their presence because of the previous “evil” master, just like today’s (2009) Iraq, Afghanistan,  because the previous ruler was evil, what is there to expect than negative portrayal?

Taft ordered these two translators, Blair and Robertson, to put together 333 years of papers and history EN CASTELLANO, in SIX YEARS, to justify his country's invasion of the archipelago, against Aguinaldo himself! If Filipinos want to truly have a genuine, faithful and TRUE History of The Philippines, they have to read the Castellano originals themselves, unless they are destroyed after 110 years and the World Wars, and also conduct a monumental work at the Archivos in Cádiz and Sevilla, Spain.

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2. Más fácil para aprender

Most of the languages in your archipelago. They are permeated to their spines with Hispanismos. And not the "cult, refined" Castellano all the times, the formal language. Also, the common slangs, sometimes the aspiration of final “s”, the switch of “r” for “l” and vice versa, the indistinct pronunciation of “b” for all “v” and “b”.  You even kept some very Andalusian traits such as "Alis" ("ales"). You have a treasure of Castellano language with its own unique identity, waiting to burst out of all your languages combined with a heavy boost from the Chabacanos.

Castellano is phonetic, "you pronounce each letter as you write it", and there are no vowel combinations, just A-E-I-O-U. English becomes a chaos to learn it, some of us spend long years; I have been speaking English for 25 years but you will find many errors on this piece. Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, and most of the languages, are usually phonetic as well. It is easier for the majority of Filipinos to learn Castellano, than it is to learn English.

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3. La Aldea Global

Think Global Village and Call Centers. Castilian is the second language in the USA. The USA has to outsource its Castilian-speaking needs because its speakers are usually children of immigrants… who are now American-sic and therefore with more proficiency in English… and therefore speak Spanglish, which can only be understood by SOME other Hispanic immigrant communities in the USA (depending if they come from the same countries). India can't do Latin-sic America. Then, there is CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA, among others. Did you know that they have a big cut of the outsourcing business EN CASTELLANO, and service many countries in Latin-sic America? The Philippines, The Marianas, Palaus an Guam should be the ones running this business, because of their 300 years of history in this language (in this, the former Spanish Pacific, The Philippines was THE CAPITAL to today's Guam, Palaus, The Marianas, Micronesia, Marshall Islands and more).

Japan has produced many groups singing en Castellano for some time, very successful, their products compete in the same Latin-sic American markets and sometimes are Best Sellers (i.e. Orquesta de la Luz, in the 80s). Vietnam’s contemporary Pop singers will now and then attempt some pieces en Castellano, and they are marketing their own Vietnamese communities in the USA! (Garden Grove, CA, stores are full of  CDs with Vietnamese singers en Castellano). It has been a while since Anglosaxon singers produce pieces en Castellano, as part of their Marketing outreach: Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey (even though her father was Venezuelan), Roxette, Van Halen, NSync, etc etc. In other cases when their ancestry helps, such as Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez, the more they produce en Castellano the better their proficiency becomes.

The Philippines insists on copycatting whatever Anglo-Saxons in the USA would do en Castellano, usually the stereotypes: QUizás quizás quizás, Bésame Mucho, any cha-cha beat song from the 60s by Perez Prado for which there was already English lyrics; anything that “non-Latins-sic” would do, when they don’t have any Hispanic influence. Does this not become obsolete clichés, compared with the others?

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4. Llamada ciega Hispana

You would be less pestered in the USA, when you emigrate there, by the telemarketing companies and the government agencies making cold calls to your home and speaking to you in Castellano just because your name or last name IS, and having to communicate with them in English. Aren't you tired of "Sí, bueno, Buenos Días, le estoy llamando de...". Or had you rather change your name and last name?

And what do you make of English nicknames for Hispanic names? They are usually taken by kids of Mexican immigrants born and raised in the USA. Look at these samples, how to do them, and how NOT to do them:

JOSE - CHE - JOE
JESUS - CHU - JESSE
ROBERTO - BETO - BOB
ANTONIO - TOÑO - TONY
DOLORES - LOLA - DOLLY
ROSARIO - CHARO - ROSIE
CORAZóN - CORO - CORY
JOSEFA - PEPA, CHEPA - JOSIE

And so forth!

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The Philippines has arrived to a scenario worth a nightmare. Regional Autonomies pushing from every corner of the archipelago, leading to the future secession. This is the results of 110 years of letting the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) coming from the USA and Anglo-Saxon countries, "christianize" and educate our natives, because we believed that they genuinely came to the deep of the jungle out of God's mercy, while the Spanish friars and missionaries came to the deep of the jungle NOT out of God's mercy. What these WASP did was convert vast portions of these tribes into Protestants who can't celebrate a Santa Rita or Divino Niño fiesta with the rest of the town because of their new beliefs. What the WASPS did was convince these tribes that "they were not the typical mainstream Filipino, that they should have their own government because they were discriminated by Spain and now by Malacañang". Therefore, you have Regional Autonomies a-la-carte. A Babylon of languages, the archipelago can't even unite in English, even though it's the mainstream language, the very low level of proficiency that a big percentage of Filipinos have with this language (*), and the non-phonetic nature of English, make this language another barrier.

(*) Read “Proficiency in English just keeps on declining - By Michael Caber”. Excerpts:  “…Filipinos’ English-language skills are falling precipitously, and most notably their ability to speak English competently, says the study commissioned by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and made by the research firm Social Weather Stations…”


If Filipinos were to turn into Castellano, at least a big portion of vocabulary unites several languages of the archipelago. It would be easier to communicate among themselves. In the first years, this would be a great help, which would be suffixed by bits of Tagalog and English.

There is another twist to this. Many "communities" of The Philippines hate English as sign of Manila Imperialism. They reject this language, boycott and do not easily let their communities embrace it. These communities also have feelings inherited from the Aguinaldo faithful Katipuneros, for which, up to this date, the American-sic occupation was a betrayal to the founding fathers of the nation, and no less honorable than the Spanish colonization.  There is also a large rejection in the archipelago, to Tagalog (therefore to Pilipino) as Manilan Imperialism to dictate it “official”.

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6. Neutralidad

If you took Castellano back, it would be neutral to everyone, as long as it does not seem mandated from Malacañang. A symbol of the 333 years of Convent, it depends on how you position it. Castellano is nothing of a convent. The language is vibrant, it is not called "Language of Passion" in vain. It has fire, multiple personalities, it is polite, expressive, both loving and brutal when you choose the right words.

We are talking of a language that took thousands of years to evolve. This is a tight summary, hopefully I am not making big mistakes: Native Celts, Iberians in today’s Spain living for ages. When did the Basques arrive to coexist with them, nobody knows; Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Greek come to trade for centuries. Then Rome arrives, the Latin era begins, "Latin" becomes the official language (think The Philippines for 333 years), and this "Latin" is only spoken well by the "masters", while the common people will speak Vulgar Latin declining freely and incorporating a lot of pre-Roman vocabulary (think the Chabacano languages of the times). The Visigoths arrive from German lands, there come the Germanic side of Castellano today in a big part of its vocabulary. And finally, there come the "Moros", slang for The Arabs, mainly coming from Syria Caliphates and from other parts later on, this was for 800 years; Spain had not even interrupted interacting with Morocco (Northern Africa), so it has, at this point, a very big part of Arabic influence. But these 800 years change language, culture and blood forever regardless of many detractors today. And then the descendants of the Visigoth dynasties, manage to come together and expel all these Arabs with blood and sweat. At this point, the language is still "Mozarabic" in most places, and pretty much formed as today's "Valencian, Catalonian, Asturian, Portuguese, Galician, etc" in other areas. The new "country" uniting all these kingdoms has to be... united. The authorities in languages, do their work. Cervantes will be preceded by the glorious Nebrija in shaping the OFFICIAL LANGUAGE of something hovering like the spirit of God between skies and seas of Earth in the Genesis.

Why can't The Philippines be another glorious example of unification by language? Rather than DENYING the 333 years of speaking Castellano, IN ADDITION to the big diversity of native languages and dialects (which in turn have Castellano vocabulary also), and taking advantage of the closer that Chabacanos are to Castellano... Why can't The Philippines be united, in Castellano? Rizal never said that Castellano was NOT to be learned or spoken, and regardless of the other cliché that he was "as prolific" in any of the languages that he spoke, the fact is that his Castellano pieces were the best of his production. This is the language his heart spoke with, not Tagalog. He is in jail, condemned by the unjust Spain, yet his last piece, "Mi Ultimo Adios", is written not in Tagalog... but En Castellano. Makes you think.



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7. El Estado Hispano de Asia y El Pacífico.

One of the last reasons, is the ever enigmatic search for Filipino Identity, a genuine one that everyone in the archipelago can relate to. Your Department of Tourism insists on positioning and developing the concept "the third largest English-speaking country in the world", even though, as I mentioned above, the proficiency keeps on declining. It also insists on positioning the Filipino identity as an EVEN mix of Malay+Spanish+Chinese+Japanese+American cultures influencing your own local culture. 

This is insanely candid, because the potential tourist reads this and cracks a laugh. USA, Canada, Australia, India, England, there are so many countries ahead of The Philippines, a wanna-be-American-sic territory for many gringos.

If you have one colonizer of 333 years forcing all your tribes with their cultures and languages (that includes your Malay and Chinese influences) to come together into ONE state of Hispanic characteristics from urbanism to society to constitution and religion, making you part of the Latin World... you cannot put this Hispanicity below another colonizer of 60 years, and least of all the Japanese.

Why not say... THE HISPANIC STATE OF ASIA, WITH A LOT OF AMERICAN-SIC INFLUENCE. In other words, another Mexico of today, a Hispanic state with a lot of American-sic influence. And for that matter, any of the Capital Cities of Latin-sic America, which are Hispanic Cities with a Lot of American-sic influence. The Philippines are not that different from their Hispanic sister states across the Pacific Ocean. In other words: THERE IS A HISPANIC BASE, WITH LATER INFLUENCE FROM THE USA. Remembering my lines above, regarding "Mestizo" being our true identities, being "Mestizo" the same thing as "Hispanic".

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8. Los Padres de la Patria Filipina

The Founding Fathers, and Independence Precursors, of the Philippines were very fluent in Castellano. All of them. The majority of them toured all Europe, through Mother Country Spain, because they were citizens of a Spanish state (just like today's Latin-sic Americans). If they became citizens  of a Global Village thinking of Enlightenment and Freedom, it was through their being regular Spaniards travelling around the world, contrary to many clichés suggesting that Filipinos lived in dictatorship and censorship and lived in a totalitarian state.

There is even an impressive literary compendium that only few Castilian-speaking Filipinos can access, or undust and discover. These Castilian speaking Filipinos celebrate with Iberian Americans. We all rejoice in the extraordinary prowess and literary skills of many Filipinos of the XIX Century, and some who resisted throughout the American-sic occupation; some pieces of Rizal stay at the Pantheon of Big Writers en Castellano. The USA succeeded in erasing Castellano from the archipelago by cutting the funds to all print houses and organizations using Castellano, while The Thomasites and legions of Protestant "teachers" came to evangelize and "christianize" the barbaric Filipinos, as if they were not christianized already. Same thing happens today, the Anglo-Saxons came up with "Christian" for a Protestant denomination, perhaps making Roman Catholics not Christian.

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9. Su propio camino

Why should The Philippines deny themselves the right to follow THEIR OWN COURSE without Anglosaxon approval? The USA, for example, trying to fix their own mistakes, began granting huge territories to "Native-Americans"-sic some decades ago, and look at them flourish with Casinolands and not paying taxes. Gringos tried to fix 100+ years of injustice that their own founding people committed on natives.

What would be abnormal if The Philippines put Castellano back as official?

What's to lose, 110 years of contemporary history? What is 110 years, compared to the future of the nation?

Most of the languages of The Philippines are full of Castellano terms and expressions, there are even facial, hand and body gestures coming from those 333 years, the Iberian Catholicism permeates The Philippines and makes them very different from Italian or Romanian Catholicism and almost identical to Latin-sic American Catholicism? They even have the same admonitions on both sides. The cuisine is undeniably and in majority Hispanic (remember my definition of Hispanic-Mestizo), so are the traditional folk dances and music? The majority, undeniably. Names and last names.

Zamboanga is doing well in positioning itself as the Latin City of Asia. To their own geographical neighbors, Filipinos are somehow “alien”. That is because Filipinos are Hispanic, while their neighbors aren’t. Former President Fujimori (Peru), of pure Japanese blood but raised Peruvian all throughout, is proof that “the face does not dictate a specific language”. Hispanicity does not marry Asianness. Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Malaysians, Indonesians… Where do The Philippines fit in? This potential piece of Latin-sic America fits with that continent, and Castellano opens up their doors for a better life than OFWding into alien Middle Eastern lands or trying to squeeze the 80+ million Filipinos into the USA. Latin-sic America is vast and has many different personalities, with the same common base as Filipinos do: Deriving from 300+ years of Spanish colonization.

Think about it. There is no dictate to force anyone to speak any language. But if you are reading this today in a language that has NOTHING to do with 333 years of your country's history, and NOTHING to do with the designs of your founding fathers... Wouldn't you like to fix what was broken, or like Don Quixote says in his famous piece... "desfacer entuertos"?

Saludos

Álvaro VanEgas - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.proyectos-saluda.org