WHEN he is not caught up with work, Dr. Carlos Madrid, director of the Instituto Cervantes, roams Quiapo and Santa Cruz districts in downtown Manila, studying the old houses, soaking up the ambiance and committing to memory the huge influence Spain had on the Philippines.
Madrid, a historian by profession, has always had a passion for the Philippines. He has no connection with the country—no relatives, or relations who lived here during the Spanish colonial period. All he has is a profound interest in the country’s history and culture. In fact, when he was about 18 or 19, he confesses to having started writing a novel whose story took place here. He never got around to finishing it. But, when he went to university, he decided to focus his studies on the Philippines and its relation to his country. This time, he got around to writing a book on the Siege of Baler, Flames over Baler, which was published by the UP Press, as well as a catalog on the life of Franciscan missionaries who were stationed in Baler, Aurora.
Truth is he lived in the country from 2003 to 2007. During the past 11 years, he had been out of the country, coming over for a month’s stay or two, to do research. When he assumed the position as Instituto Director on May 6, 2014, the coincidence was simply uncanny.
A source for cultural tourism
“I like the Philippines,” he declares. “I lived in Malate when I was here and I used to frequent all the places there—Penguin Café, Oarhouse, Republic of Malate and Hobbit House, although I never did like going there. I was a Malateño during my stay here.”
As a historian, he has been busy reading colonial documents that detail weather patterns. He sees a parallel between the experiences of those living in the country more than a hundred years ago and those living country today.
“A lot of their experiences and what they did to cope with the weather could be applied to the situation now,” he says.
His study about Baler has served as a blueprint for the local government in developing a cultural component to its tourism promotion. Locales that were significant during the so-called Siege have been identified and are now part of the tourism effort in the area.
While his studies have focused on Baler, due primarily to the ready availability of materials on the subject, this same study could be replicated in other parts of the country, such as Cebu and Bicol, where there was a strong Spanish presence.
“The local government units in these areas can do the same thing,” he explains. “There is a mine of date just waiting to be analyzed. This could all be integrated as part of cultural tourism that people can visit.”
Spanish for researchers
THE Instituto Cervantes opened in Manila in 1994 to spread the knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish language and its culture. Throughout the year, it organizes film screenings, exhibits, concerts, and conferences and seminars about Spanish life and culture and how it has influenced the world.
The Instituto is now busy preparing a program to teach a young generation of Filipino researchers to read documents. The course, which he hopes to present to universities around the country for possible adoption, focuses solely on reading archival records, and not so much on writing or speaking Spanish.
“There are certain wordings that they can look out for to ascertain the data on a document, such as who wrote it and to whom it is addressed, as well as other details that are important when doing research.”
He notes that the National Archives is a goldmine of documents that future researchers should seriously study.
Much of what Madrid knows about the country he learned from reading these archival materials. He confesses that he often uses these documents to travel around the country. In fact, he has gone as far north as Aparri, Cagayan, and as far south as Tawi-Tawi—the only places he hasn’t been to yet are Iloilo and Palawan—just to verify details in the materials he has read.
“There is a record of a bridge built during Spanish times over the Agus River. There is no record of it now. I traveled all the way there looking for it, and I was able to find its remnants. The people there told me that the bridge was in use until the 1970s before it was abandoned,” he says.
This data brings to the fore talks about how the country was enslaved by the Spanish.
He admits that the bridge over the Agus River was built through polo, or forced labor.
“Yes, it was made through forced labor, and people suffered just to complete that project. But, just think of how many generations benefited from that bridge. It was still in use after a hundred years,” he adds.
He does not deny that Spanish officials in the Philippines then made life for Filipinos difficult. But he stresses that it was not a unique situation.
“You had education here. As much as 65 percent of the people during that time could read, which was high compared with other countries. Yes, there was oppression, but it was the same situation in Spain. When your heroes fought for democracy against Spain, intellectuals in my country were also doing the same thing against the government,” he says.
The first global citizen
THERE is also a renewed interest in the Spanish language around the country. In fact, the Instituto is now busy teaching Spanish to trainers of the Department of Education for a plan to revive the teaching of the language in schools.
In this day and age of BPOs, Madrid says the Philippines is at an advantage over other countries in that there are three languages spoken here, the mother tongue, which is Filipino; English and Spanish, although our knowledge of Spanish is limited to words that have been assimilated into Filipino. All we need is to brush up on our Spanish to be competitive.
He adds that Filipinos have always been at an advantage among other people in developing countries because of the Philippines unique position in Asia and in history.
“Even before the talk about globalization now, Filipinos were already global citizens 100 years ago. Because of your location in Asia, you were lucky to have all these influences from China and other countries in Asia. And there was Western culture, which came from Spain and filtered here through Mexico. And you have your indigenous culture. All of that combined to create a unique people that is the Filipino,” he says.
“I am comforted by the fact that Filipinos are unique in the world. Yes, some people may consider you to be inferior because of the effect of so many influences on your people. But that’s what globalization is all about. You are the unique citizen that is the result of so many cultures. In that way, you are more interesting as a people than other peoples of the world.”
Image credits: Jimbo Albano