BOOK REVIEW

“ THE PHILIPPINE WAR 1899-1902: A PRO IMPERIALIST BOOK IN THE POST MODERNIST TIME
By Arturo P. Garcia

Author Brian McAllister Linn in his book, “The Philippine War, 1899-1902 “ (427 pages) explains how he draws his conclusions on how the United States won this war or how the Filipinos lost this.

But his questions remained, and this focused to the so-called myth of on how the United States won the war: “ by civilizing Filipinos with a Krag remains resilient.” That is why he took pains to dispute this fact.

As an American author, he calls for a “ reevaluation of military operations” (maybe calling a good war) during the Philippine War. He calls it “ long overdue”. He calls for “ a study of the war, stripping it of ideological blinders so it can offer great insight into complexities of localized guerilla war and indigenous resistance to foreign control.”

Yet like all the academics, in his bibliography he calls historical writing as often summarized as” explaining what happened and why. But he says, in the case of the Philippine –American conflict the “what happened was subordinated to the “ why”

That is a tacit admission he used Imperialist or American works, army records and used Filipinos sources or the participants sources that he called as” limited”.

He was really convinced that’s the “Filipino side awaits a scholar. “ For him, the works of Filipino scholars as a rich source of the war history of the Filipino American War is never enough.

He admitted that he used mostly American books and war records and used the Filipino sources as secondary or not at all. He just mentioned them as perfunctorily as a scholar does but never gave the Filipino side merit for their heroic struggle.

Using the successful American Revolution as an example, he chided the Filipino side for “not having a Natahnael Greene who can combine partisan with regular to achieve campaign or strategic goal.”

He said that “the revolutionaries fought a holding action, the best they can hoe for was their opponents would tire.” He called it “ a short sighted policy.

As usual, blaming the individual leadership, he heaped all the blame to General Emilio Aguinaldo. Praising the Imperialist, he said” What gave the Americans military forces was not their numbers but their effectiveness. Part of these had to do with weapons.”

He never admitted that the Philippines was the first American Vietnam. The only difference is that America lost the Vietnam War (1954-1975) as they lost the Korean War (1950-1954) so they cherish their victory over the Filipinos as a precious one.

The writer was so cruel and very vicious to the greatest Filipino general- Antonio Luna. His few pages that mentioned the gallant defense and offensives of the Army of the Republic led by Luna was riddled with innuendoes from all his enemies.

He never mentioned that Luna gave the Americans a hard time and broke the boast of the Americans that they can beat the Filipinos within “one week” It took them sixteen years to subjugate the Philippines and the myth that they destroyed the Filipino resistance within four years is the myth that Linn is trying to perpetuate up to know.

But what can we expect on the jaundiced eyes of pro-Imperialist authors like Linn.

He readily brushed aside that the Filipinos lost more than a million people fighting for their own Republic, which he conveniently called another myth.

He might be right because one lasting legacy that the Americans left us is that there is no study of Filipino military history even its prime military school-the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), has no nationalist orientation much more the study of the Philippine military history

They are just good in just changing names like the naming the PMA Camp Henry Allen to Fort Gregorio Del Pilar as they did to Camp Murphy to Camp Aguinaldo and Fort McKinley to Fort Bonifacio.

Thus, it is incumbent for Filipinos and Filipino Americans to study their own history and rewrite it in the own perceptions. Until then, authors like Linn will run amuck and brand themselves as authorities on the history of Filipinos.

They will continue to treat us as “lost souls” as the Spanish conquistadores wrote the history of the Philippines filled with heretic, bandits and witches as they Christianized and turned Filipinos as civilized people.

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Mga Anak ng kabayo, Apo ng Galunggong (Pasintabi kay Ka Roger)

ula

Mga Anak ng kabayo, Apo ng Galunggong
(Pasintabi kay Ka Roger)

Mga anak ng kabayo ,
malakas sumipa kapag nagagalit,
Mas mapalad pa sa tao
Dahil asendero’y nagmamalasakit,
Sa kabayong gamit sa Polo.
Laro ng mga hari’t prinsipe-
may sariling bahay,tagapag-alaga,
May tagapulot at damong ari,
Samantalang ang mga anak
Ng kabayong tao
Lagi na sa pighati,
Pagkain ay galunggong
O kaya ay asin at siling
Pantighaw sa gutom lagi;

Ngayon, mga apo ng galunggong,
Wala nang makain;
Dahil ang galunggong
Lumayo sa malalim ng dagat
At lumipat na sa Hilaga--
Dahil sa El Nino at El Ninang
Nagpatuyo sa pugad
Ng maaskad na isdang
Pagkain ng mahirap,
Kaya ang mga apo ng galunggong,
Nagmahal na at mahirap bilhin,
Ng aping mahirap
Wala nang makain.

Mahirap talagang maging apo ng kabayo
Lalo ang apo ng galunggong;
nangibang bansa na at lumayo
Sa Silangang Pasipiko,
Nagtago sa dagat
ng Rusya at ng mga Hapon
naninindim dahil sa lamig,
malayo na sa init
ng matinding hilahil.

Agosto 07, 2011

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Walking Among the Living

Poem

Walking Among the Living

When the lights went out,
Jupiter brightens its moons;
Embraced me with its cold air,
I felt the weakness in me
And air was sucked by the wind
Like a passing breeze that passed,
There was air but no sun,
There is the moon
But there were no stars,
Yet the mind cannot command,
It is nice to be alive,
But dead in a moment,
I dread the cold.
But long for it
In the heat of the night,
I loved to talk
To the  lost souls,
to our elders,
Old friends who I never saw
Again and comrades
In their magnificent
Deadly arms,
Yes, it is fun to wake up
In the bright light
Of the morning and greet
The warm sun
For the coming
Of the new dawn.

August 02, 2011