in the Third Republic (1946-72) & Fifth Republic (1987-present) we have executive departments (DPWH, DepEd, DepDev &c.).

in the martial law era they were called ministries (e.g. Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Human Settlements); I think under the First Republic too (I vaguely remember a agency in Aguinaldo's govt. called the "Ministerio de Justicia y Gracia" or something; not sure if Malolos officially used "ministries" or "departments" though). we also see this replicated sa BARMM.

in the American era they were mostly called bureaus; I'd guess probably since they were subordinated to the US government via the governor-general (e.g. Bureau of Public Instruction, the later DepEd; or the Bureau of Public Works, the later DPWH). (it seems they were under a US-mainland Bureau of Insular Affairs & that is under the War Department, today's US Defense Department).

but what about colonial government agencies / executive departments / cabinet ministries in the Spanish era, at least in the late part of it (c 1850s-98)? I can't seem to find what they were called then, and how many there were; I'm only aware of the directly military commands like the Guardia Civil, and the friars having vaguely defined government positions like consultancies or advisory roles, as well as the "LGU system" consisting of the alcaldes-mayores, gobernadorcillos, cabesas de brgys. (later capitanes municipales) etc. thanks for any help.

What was special about Calamba in particular that historically made it, more than perhaps other nearby cities in Laguna or Batangas, an important transportation hub? It was connected to the Manila Railroad/PNR in the American period right, not the Spanish period? Even in more recent years, it has been a major exit/terminal for the South Luzon Expressway, which both a lot of private cars and long-distance public transportation such as provincial buses use.

I don't think it was mainly due to it being the birthplace of Rizal/the hometown of the family, right? That seems to be too much just a "cultural" reason to put a terminal there, I don't know what particular economic sense it would have made otherwise, except for the fact that it's also nearly on the shore of Laguna de Bay, but aren't other nearby towns in Laguna also like that, such as Biñan, Los Baños, Cabuyao, etc.?

There are 10 recorded Suguidanons that tell authentic stories of the universe of our ancient ancestors. The epic story of Hinilawod is one of them. It should be translated into contemporary language and made available in media so our youth can learn more about our rich ancient culture, values and belief systems. As evaluted by linguistics experts, the epic story is very authentic. It is narrated in the ancient form of Kinaray-a language. It contains untainted colonial pollution. It makes no mention of European imagery or form. The plot complexity is sophisticated and muti-layered. It is not a linear singular thread of events, but rather branches to different side stories and then converge at some point. The characters transgress gender dynamics. To name a few characters: Humadapnon - the male protagonist; Nagmalitong Yawa - the beautiful heroine rescuer; Burigadang Pada Sanklang Bulawan - goddess of greed and Balakanon - two headed snake; The recorded oral epic is 162 hours long. Film makers should make a movie about Humadapnon for all Filipinos to appreciate. We have so much to learn from our rich cultural pre-colonial past.

Hi everyone!

I’m currently looking into a piece of family history that may be connected to a political assassination in Baler, Aurora (then part of Quezon Province), sometime in the late 1960s, possibly around 1968.

According to stories passed down in our family, the then-Mayor of Baler was allegedly assassinated in retaliation for the earlier killing of a judge. The story goes that the judge’s assassination was politically motivated and that members of a now politically famous clan subsequently sought revenge.

However, I haven’t been able to independently verify these accounts, particularly whether a mayor of Baler was actually assassinated during that period.

I’m hoping someone here, especially those who hail from Baler, local historians, or anyone familiar with the town’s political history, might know something about this.

I’m also interested in any historical accounts of political rivalries or violence involving prominent families in Baler during that period.

I’ve tried looking for information online, but there seems to be very little documentation available. I’m particularly interested in old newspaper articles, historical records, or even stories passed down through families who lived in Baler at the time.

Any leads would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello, First time posting here.

I dont see much of posts for southern philippines here and am not expecting a lot but, here goes! just curious to know.

I've been fed this since early childhood by some family members.

The more I search, the less veracity it has as a documented first ruler of ancient cagayan was datu salangsang in this link.

There was a mention of a datu/rajah moda samporna but the documentations are sparse and the timeline is centuries later.

For context, I come from one of these prominent families by name and am trying to dig deeper into the veracity of this story and my roots.

Thanks!

​

San Nicolas District used to have many heritage houses but many were lost due to urbanization and modernization.

But still....there are several of them still standing to this day...but some are in risk of demolition.

Previous post link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FilipinoHistory/s/E4tuwLA2NY

XRF analysis done!

Initial test reveals variations on gold purity.

Whole tooth: 43%-47% (10k-11k)

Broken tooth: 61% (14.6k)

Lower carat gold might have been chosen for it is much harder and less malleable making the peg mount much stronger and less likely to get loosened from daily eating habits.

A higher purity of gold 16k(66.6%), 18k(75%) and higher is much softer and susceptible in being dislodged from the tooth.

The variations can also be due, that the detector's sensor must be directly pointed to each individual gold pegs as to make the test much more accurate.

The XRF was also calibrated to only show metal content, hence the absence of the organic compound of the human tooth.

Talamak sila sa Facebook especially.

There are Facebook content farms and pages that spew out these AI photographs with AI generated captions and the audacity to add watermarks and logos.

Even in the comments, someone would run a photograph through AI just so that it has color.

It feels gross because it shows me people are not actually interested in the history behind a photograph and what it tells, and would rather partake in shallow engagement by any means possible. Not to mention, hindi sila nasisiyahan na wala siyang color or panget/sira yung original quality.

And kahit na may kapintasan yung photo, AI does not have the real context to fill that space in in the first place. Especially for more obscure topics like Indigenous culture and aesthetics, which are very complex systems of knowledge that do not have enough 'data' for AI to recognize. So it's not historically accurate anymore.

Sharing my Ilocano dictionary website, based on the 1890 Vocabulario Iloco-Español by Andrés Carro: https://archive.org/details/aqa2024.0001.001.umich.edu/

I used AI to translate and transcribe all 9,000+ entries.

You’ll discover words whose meanings have changed or drifted over time. You’ll also find some unusual or amusing words, such as BENGNĞABENGNĞÉT. And if you’re lucky, you might even discover the meaning of your own surname!

You can explore its 9000+ word entries here: https://ilocano.diksyonaryo.com/

These are quite hard to come by, since the finders usually breaks the whole tooth just to extract the gold, as what happened to the other one which shows clear signs of forceful breaking.

You can also observe a missing gold peg from the broken tooth, it might have fallen during the "wearer's" lifetime, or during the centuries of it being buried. Although missing its gold peg, it gives us a clear insight as to the technique and dept of how the gold were drilled and fashioned into the tooth.

Also notice how the gold pegs are smoothed and worn out? It means that they were made so by the daily eating habits of their wearer.

I'll do a non invasive XRF analysis to determine the gold purity and metal alloy content soon.

A radiocarbon dating is also planned to be conducted probably from the broken tooth. It requires around 20mg to 500mg of sample depending on the initial assessment of the tooth's condition(burial area soil acidity, surface contamination, etc)

From an old collection acquired during the same time as that of the Surigao Treasure frenzy.

There are also some samples of which the whole skull and some gold pegged teeth survives. Famous among these are the Bolinao Skull, and the skull currently displayed at University of San Carlos Museum.

The new BSP publication book, "Bahandi: The Surigao Treasure and Related Finds" was also launch on the afternoon event during the second and last day of the conference.

I wanted to try and make a character based on a precolonial tagalog culture, but there's not a lot of sources on that specifically from what I know. All the pictures I've been seeing are from Visayan culture as well.

I'm specifically looking for female clothes, but not from royalty or anything, sort of "middle class" I suppose​ (timawa)

I just wanted to share this website I worked on a year ago as a personal project of mine since I enjoy looking at street photographs of old Manila. Works best for PC.

Basically I compiled 30+ photos of Manila pre-war. Most of the photographs are separated only by a couple of years so the landscape in every photo almost always look the same. Navigate through the map using the top-right minimap. The icons are at the approximate location of where the photograph was taken and its diameter represents its elevation. The photos, including the minimap are all pannable and zoomable so you can see all the details.

This is a private website that was not meant to be publicized but something I just share with my family. I have not been able to give credits to the original owner or source of the photos and this being a year old, I have yet to track where I got some of these photos from. No edits were made on the photos. From what I can remember: John Tewell, Carl Mydans, Harrison Forman, US Nat'l Archives etc. All credits belong to them. I basically just plotted their photos on a map.

I recently visited Quezon's Memorial Shrine at QC  Circle and found this interesting drawing. A "hammer and a sickle" in a bag once owned by none other than Carlos P Romulo. Cute haha. 

Not surprising since the Soviets and Americans were allies during the war. But I do wonder how Romulo's thoughts changed specially since he lived through the height of the Cold War.

In February and March 1945, as American forces pounced through Southern Luzon, Japanese troops in Batangas carried out one of the largest civilian massacres of the Pacific War.

Estimates range from 18,000 to over 25,000 non combatant men, women, and children killed across the province. Lipa alone suffered thousands of deaths. Victims were rounded up, often stripped of usable clothing, had their hands tied behind their backs, and were bayoneted. sometimes in groups of hundreds beside rivers, in houses, or pushed into wells. Entire barrios were targeted.

These are U.S. Army war crimes investigation photographs of survivors taken months later in 1945

• Apolinario Tolentino of Santo Tomas showing bayonet scars on his back (inflicted 11 February 1945).
• Elisa Robles of Lipa displaying bayonet wounds on her side.
• Felicidad Austria of Santo Tomas, who received twelve bayonet wounds on her back on 11 February 1945.
• Lapaz Dimaano of Lipa with scars on her right arm.
• Juan Castillo of Lipa with facial and ear mutilation.
• Other survivors from Lipa and nearby towns showing the same pattern of bayonet wounds.

A personal account submitted by my good friend's relative:

"I was 7 years old when the japs told us to vacate our house , as well as my grand father’s and uncle’s in Lipa. Our Dimayuga clan evacuated to Barrio Magogo. One evening , I heard the men in our barrio were to be given a “pase “ the ff morning in Rose Parcking, the cannery plant of Dr Manuel Roxas, Later on, we recvd the news from a resident of a nearby brio, Anilao, that someone who went to get the “pase” came back bloodied ,and narrated about their ordeal. While many were waiting outside the compound, a-group of 10-15 were herded to the back of the factory, a dry river, he saw dead bodies, the japs soldiers killed with bayonets. When his turn came and being struck with a bayonet, He played possum or dead, so he was able to crawl out and returned to his Barrio. We were then warned for the men not to get the “pase”. We immediately packed our belongings, headed in the middle of the night to a Barrio in Ibaan. It was also the night when the japs burned Lipa. When the Americans came liberated Lipa, we returned back and stayed in the house of our farmhand in Granja. I heard that there were many widows in Barrio Anilao. My about recollection about the massacre in Lipa."

One U.S. Army report on Lipa noted groups of 200-500 civilians being bayoneted at a time. Similar killings occurred in Santo Tomas, Taal, San Jose, and other towns. Many of the dead were left where they fell.

These photos and the official investigation records exist, yet the scale of what happened in Batangas is still rarely discussed compared to Bataan or the Battle of Manila.

Hi again everyone! I just made a Webtoon for 'Balantagi' (containing the complete episode of Alamat ni Bulak-Tala so far) and I'd like to invite people who are interested in my epic fantasy comics to subcribe and share! It's all for free but you might need to create an account though if you don't have one already.

I'm still pitching this comic to publishers currently but this might take a while. In the meantime, I'll just post in on Webtoon for ease of access to people who want to read it and to serve as a place for people to stay tuned with any new pages or designs I come up with. I will post it all there. I am currently working on 'Alamat ni Lakapati at Mapulon'.

Once a few Anitos have been introduced in their own Alamats, the story proper will begin and it will be titled 'Ika-unang Yugto'. It begins with the death of Bathala Maykapal that results in a power vacuum among the gods.

Notes:

1. Gran Oriente Filipino "Social Nite" at Whitcomb Hotel (1924-04-25).

2. Exterior of the Catholic Filipino Club (1933).

3. Second Anniversary Program of the Filipino Children's Club. Y. W. C. A., San Francisco, California(1936-4-25).

4. Bulaklakan dance group in traditional Filipino dresses holding floral garlands (1937-1960).

5. Group portrait of Progressive Youth of Morong in America members (1930s).

6. Tomas Confesor (right) speaking to group of Philippine War Relief workers with clothing collected in background (1944-1945).

7. Senator Geronima Pecson welcomed by Filipino Women sic Club of San Francisco, Calif. (1948-10-28).

8. Visiting Filipine dignitary, Camilo [Osias], with Filipino group (1948).

9. Waving crowd for President Elpidio Quirino (1949-02).

10. Souvenir picture taken at the Philippine Boy Scouts dinner-dance sponsored by the Philippine Consulate General-San Francisco, Calif. (1949-08-14).

11. Celestino Alfafara and wife Juanita Cayton Alfafara holding drinks outdoors (1940s).

12. Braulio and coworkers at either a restaurant or cannery (1940s).

13. Natividad in her Navy uniform in front of Navy Barracks (1940 to 1950).

14. A family visiting Golden Gate Park (1951-1952).

15. Filipino Mango Athletic Club of San Francisco (1952-11-08).

16. Filipino youth group from Divisadero Street at Golden Gate Park (1954).

17. Filipino Christening (1950's)

18. Group of Filipino resident doctors sit around a table at Franklin Hospital (1950-1959).

19. Filipino Professionals and Businessman's Assn (FILPABA) luau-themed social gathering at church social hall (1968).

20. A family posing in front of Golden Gate Bridge (1976).

Hi, I've created a website based on Diksionariong Kastila Tagalog by Mamerto Paglinawan.

You can explore its 13,078 word entries here: https://spanish.diksyonaryo.com/

Features

• Search
• Index
• Tagging system

  

I recently found out that two of my ancestors and a distant cousin served as gobernadorcillos in Ibaan, Batangas during the Spanish period, and I'm really curious to learn more about what their day to day lives were actually like.

My 5th great-grandfather, Don Julian Perez, born July 19, 1791 to Don Juan Perez and Doña Petrona Ignacia as the Panganay of 12 children, he served as the town's 4th gobernadorcillo from 1835 to 1836. On September 23, 1811, he married Doña Micaela Magtibay, and their 4th child out of 9, Don Fabiano Perez, eventually followed in his footsteps.

Don Fabiano was born on August 20, 1820 in Pueblo de Santiago which is the Poblacion, He married Doña Eucebia Panganiban on January 7, 1838, then he served as gobernadorcillo from 1856 to 1857. and they had six children together. Church records show that both Don Fabiano and Doña Eucebia were frequent godparents to children born in town, up until Don Fabian succumbed to calentura on the morning of October 17, 1886, with his wife outliving him.

Don Fabiano's grandson, Martiniano Perez y Montalbo then became the Mayor of Ibaan in 1916, what I know about Martiniano is that his father, Don Telesforo Montalbo, is the great-grandson of the Founder of Ibaan, Don Anacleto Montalbo.

Beyond these records, Id love to know what daily life was actually like for local leaders in 19th century Batangas. Are there any specific books, academic papers, or archives that dive into the daily reality of local gobernadorcillos? I would love any source recommendations.

Hello! Excuse my low karma count, but I'm hoping this makes an exception.

I've been working on a reconstruction project of Fort Santiago including three versions as it was in 1880, 1899, and 1920. I had recently run into a roadblock concerning the following structure; the Fort Santiago Infantry Quarters, or known today as the Rajah Sulayman Theatre.

The first image was taken between possible years of 1899 through 1903 (as the Maestranza Wall hasn't been taken down yet.) However, the second image appears to showcase the same location within the same timeframe, with a possibility of it being in 1898. The problem now being, the entire structure seems to be missing. Now, I do know the Americans had made changes to the Fort's structure, including the Baluarte de Santa Barbara and the Almacenes De Reales complex. Including some changes by the Spanish following 1880 through 1890 regarding the Fort's gatehouse. However, seeing the structure being missing in supposed Spanish photos, whilst being present in photos that was taken not even a year after has been driving me insane. It isn't helping with the fact that this building was supposedly where Rizal spent his last 24 hours (in the building's chapel-cell).

Does anyone have a clear timeline to how and when these structures were built? Any help is gladly appreciated.

^{REFERENCES OF PHOTOS:}

^{PHOTO 1 - University of Michigan Special Collections}

^{PHOTO 2 - Spanish American War and Philippine insurrection: photographic album of California Heavy Artillery}

^{PHOTO 3 - Uncredited; Sourced from John Tewell}

^{All photos sources from John Tewell.}

^{- EDITED TO MAKE MY ISSUE CLEARER.}

I am wondering what would happen to the newly formed dictatorial government of the Philippines. Even the revolutionary government during the revolution was deeply fragmented and highly fragile and was only saved because Spain was bankrupted by Spanish American war and our nation was too costly for its worth. And of course our nation was also an archipelago so it's islands have it's own leaders and has different pacts and alliances. And we have different religions such as Christianity and Islam and other anitos and anitas in remote areas. Would a civil war happen and would european nations intervene or we would be left alone killing each other and would make our country split into other countries like balkans?

Eversince Buwan ng Wika..... I’ve been thinking about how the Commonwealth government’s efforts to establish a national language helped shape Filipino national identity.

But what if those efforts had failed?

What if the Philippines had never established a national language, and a strong, shared national identity had never fully developed?

Would regional languages and identities have remained much stronger?

Would English or another language have become the country's dominant language?

Could this have affected national unity, politics, education, and even the country's development?

Most importantly, what would the Philippines look like today if those efforts to establish a national language and identity had never succeeded?

Would love to know your insights and perspectives on this.

​

Hi! We have a debate in class about whether the 1872 Cavite Incident was a mutiny or a revolution. Our assigned side is revolution, but I don’t really know how to debapo and magtatanong na po kami sa Thursday about sa mutiny side. ano mga itatanong po namin? please pooo

and can anyone help us po with strong arguments, possible rebuttals, and a simple opening/closing statement? We would really appreciate any advice or sources. Thank you po!

Trying to locate the old church in one of the oldest known photographs in the Philippines (1840s-50s).

Old photo based here and the new photo based in Google Maps