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filipinfodump · 3 months

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Hi, I want to ask if you have any topics about the Philippine-American War? I have gotten myself in Philippine History and I want to know deeper. Thanks:)

I was thinking of many ways on how to answer this because this is such a large and complicated topic but I could just try to summarize some stuff here and tell you what I know and what I could find.

The Filipino-American war mainly started as Filipinos felt betrayed by their former American allies after the country was sold to them by Spain after the Spanish-American war during the Treaty of Paris of 1898 for $20 million alongside other Spanish colonies like Puerto Rico, Guam, and Cuba (American Historical Association, n.d.). This feeling of betrayal had come from the fact that the leader and dictator president of the Filipino revolutionaries, Emilio Aguinaldo of the Kataastaasang Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (en. The Supreme and Honorable Association of the Children of the Nation) or the Katipunan for short, actually sought assistance from the Americans in Hong Kong during the Filipino Revolutionary War against Spain which was happening at the same time (Kedmey, 2013). This is why tensions were so high with the Americans when they first formally colonized the Philippines.

Interestingly, the purchase also included some territories that weren't actually part of Spanish rule such as the Sultanate of Sulu as well as some indigenous territories which led to a strained relationship with the Americans moving forward such as the independent Moros of Muslim Mindanao later being forced to assimilate to the rest of the colony of the Philippines despite previous agreements that state that they will leave them alone, mirroring the way the United States government treated Native Americans (Gowing, 1968).

Fighting between the American army and the Filipino army first broke out when on February 4, 1899 after Private William W. Grayson fired at 4 Filipino soldiers who cocked their rifles in response to them ordering the men to halt which later broke out into the Battle of Manile of 1899 (Chaput, 2012). As the Filipinos and Americans declared war on each other, the Katipuneros resorted to the mountains to start guerilla warfare against the American army (Philippine-American War, n.d.) which then lasted until 1901 when Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901, just a day after Aguinaldo's birthday actually with the capture being attributed to two of his men, Lazaro Segovia and Hilario Tal Placido who betrayed him to the Americans with his other men still being too relaxed from the festivities the day before (Ocampo, 2010).

The fighting continued despite his capture and surrender until the last of the generals, General Macario Sakay, surrendered in July 14, 1906 who was then later executed along side his men on September 13, 1907 despite the initial promise of amnesty by the American government (Pangilinan & Pimintel, 2008).

The war ended the lives of 4,300 American soldiers with only 1,500 having been killed in action with the rest succumbing to diseases, while Filipino forces suffered 20,000 casualties alongside the death of 200,000 Filipino civilians due to hunger, disease, and combat (Philippine-American War, n.d.).

The violence of the situation and especially committed by the American soldiers prompted a lot of protests in the United States to stop the war immediately, as letters of the situation had been sent back to their homes which describes in excruciating detail the war crimes that these soldiers were ordered to commit such as blockading and burning down villages, extreme torture of captured and suspected enemies, and much more. The most well-known of these torture methods that I remember being taught to us in history classes as early as 4th grade was the "Water Cure" where American soldiers would force water down the victim's throat in and force them to vomit it back out. This article has a detailed account of the exact nature of this torture method as it discusses the torture of Mayor Joveniano Ealdama of Igbaras, who, although no American troop was actually hurt in his town, was tortured with his town being burnt down by the Americans the very next day (Vestal, 2017).

I do have to be honest, I was utterly shocked at how little Americans really knew about the Philippine American colonial era and by extension the Philippine-American war especially with the sheer amount of brutality the Americans had done to Filipino locals as well as the large impact the American government and American culture has had in my country and I am glad that more and more people are starting to learn more about this but it's still rather disappointing.

Videos on the Philippine-American War

If you want to learn more about the Philippine-American War, I have a couple of recommendations for videos that you can watch.

This video by Crash Course explains the origins of American Imperial idealization as well as the wars that led up to the colonization of the many territories that America acquired during this time era:

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Here's a good summary by history teacher Mr. Beat of the major aspects of the war as well as the American public's perception of it that you can watch:

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Here's a video made with a Filipino-perspective by Jonas Tayaban on the topic:

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Here's a summary in Tagalog. It doesn't have English subtitles though but it does detail more things about the build-up and the subsequent wars between Spain and America and later the Philippines and Spain and then America too:

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Movies about the Philippine-American War

I would also be remiss to not suggest some historical movies that tackle the events of this time period and especially TBA Studios' Artikulo Uno films Heneral Luna (2015) which focuses on the most popular and effective general of the revolution Gen. Antonio Luna, and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2018) which focuses on Gregorio "Goyo" del Pilar, one the youngest generals of Filipino history who died a very tragic death at a young age:

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You can watch the full movie here complete with English Subtitles

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Another well-known movie about this time period is Viva Films' El Presidente (2012), although I had heard people say it's very much biased to the controversial dictator president Aguinaldo's side with many people citing that as the reason why they don't like the film.

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Here's a reupload of the full-movie. It doesn't have subtitles though.

I don't know of any American-made movies that focuses on this topic and I know there's several other films that focus more on the politics of the Katipunan and the Filipino Revolutionary War against Spain, but not necessarily the Philippine-American War so if anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.

I would also like to suggest documentaries but most of the ones I've seen are on World War II and the others are other YouTube videos by history channels that I'm not too familiar with made by mostly white American YouTubers. Not that that would disqualify their videos (I did reference both John Green and Mr. Beat here) but I don't know these history channels and their hosts enough to recommend them in good faith as of right now.

Books and Further Reading on the Philippine-American War

For books on the subject, I often reference the many writings of Ambeth Ocampo such as his Looking Back series, specifically:

Looking Back 2: Dirty Dancing (Shopee, Lazada, Amazon)

Looking Back 11: Independence x6 (Shopee, Lazada)

Looking Back 13: Guns of the Katipunan (Shopee, Lazada)

I'm also currently interested in buying some other books about the topic like The Hills of Sampaloc: The Opening Actions of the Philippine-American War, February 4-5, 1899 (Shopee, Amazon) but I don't really have any extra money to spare for it right now.

I remember that my father had some other books about this too but the names had escaped me and it's far too much work to try to sort out through his entire book pile in our house.

I hope this answer's comprehensive enough since the subject is, as I said before, quite complex and rather large so I can't really get into all the specifics right now.

References:

American Historical Association. (n.d.). How Did America Enter the Picture?. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-24-what-lies-ahead-for-the-philippines-(1945)/how-did-america-enter-the-picture

Chaput, D. (2012). Private William W Grayson's War in the Philippines, 1899. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://ne-test-site8.cdc.nicusa.com/sites/ne-test-site8.cdc.nicusa.com/files/doc/publications/NH1980GraysonWar1899.pdf

Gowing, P. (1968). Muslim-American Relations in the Philippines, 1899-1929. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-06-03-1968/gowing-muslim-american%20relations%20in%20the%20philippines%201899-1920.pdf

Kedmey, D. (2013, June 13). Exiled in Hong Kong: Famous Company for Edward Snowden.Time. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://world.time.com/2013/06/15/exiled-in-hong-kong-famous-company-for-edward-snowden/slide/general-emilio-aguinaldo/

Ocampo, A. (2010). Looking Back 2: Dirty Dancing. Anvil Publishing

Pangilinan, F., & Pimintel, A. (2008, September 9). A Resolution Expressing the Sense of the Senate Honoring the Sacrifice of Macario Sakay and all other Filipinos who Gave Up their Lives in the Philippine-American War for our Freedom, Senate Resolution No. 623, 14th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/83927584!.pdf

Philippine-American War. In Britannica. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/event/Philippine-American-War

Vestal, A. (2017). The First Wartime Water Torture by Americans. Retrieved on 3 February 2024, from https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol69/iss1/2/

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maya-chirps · 11 months

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Making a pinned post for those on mobile.

Heya! I'm Maya and I'm happy to answer questions about the Philippines! Just give me time since I will take a while to research these topics and find good resources. Thank you for stopping by!

You can browse through the #mayapino tag for my posts about the Philippines!

I am still recovering from Steven-Johnson Syndrome so please be patient with me. Thank you!

Here's my other blogs that I have listed on my profile:

Filipino Facts Blog: @filipinfodump

Fandom Blog: @mayadoesfandomstuff

ADHD Blog (inactive): @adhd-birb

#mayaposts

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filipinfodump · 3 months

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Welcome to the FilipInfoDump!

This is a blog dedicated to posting random things about the Philippines including trivia, media, history, and culture. Here, we will do our best to share information and answer questions about the country.

This blog was started by @maya-chirps as a way to just share Filipino stuff that they had learned from their Filipino history and culture hyperfixation.

Please be patient as there is currently one mod who has to regularly deal with personal health issues. We will get to your questions in due time.

Links

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About the mods

FAQ

Sources (TBA)

Tags

filipino history

filipino culture

filipino myths

filipino legends

#pinned post #filipinfodump #announcements #mod maya

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filipinfodump · 2 months

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Okay, I should probably post the longer legend later, but I just read a lot about manananggals and aswangs in general lately and oh my goodness, there's a story that contains a manananggal baby!

The context is that two men stay over a family's house and some time in the night, they wake up to see the other family members rubbing a sort of oil or lotion on their arms which make them separate from their body and allow them to fly (something consistently established in most Luzon stories of manananggals as I've noticed). The family leaves behind their baby, sleeping peacefully as they went off to hunt presumably, leaving the two men alone with the child and the bottle of oily lotion.

I don't know really, it's just a little surprising to find that there is a story that at least contains this detail because most manananggal in modern media and even folk stories focus on just young women and often the only family being their sisters or their old mothers. I had never read about a manananggal baby before and especially in regards of a folk legend so this is a little delightful.

#filipinfodump #filipino #philippines #filipino monsters #filipino legends #tagalog legends #manananggal #mod maya

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filipinfodump · 3 months

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Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical

A Filipino Musical that hasn't left my mind since the mid 2010s

Poster for Kabesang Tales posted by Palakat Batangas City via Facebook

Although the Philippines is known for its many talented singers which include many that had crossed over to Broadway such as Lea Salonga, and Rachelle Ann Go, alongside many other Filipino-American talents like Conrad Ricamora, Arielle Jacobs, George Salazar, and Darren Criss just to name a few, the musical scene in the Philippines itself isn't as popular nor as successful in the country as it really should be.

Even with Filipino-majority musicals in states like the controversial Broadway musical "Here Lies Love" which narrates the life story of Imelda Marcos, one of the most controversial figures in Filipino politics and history today, and with Filipino stars often taking in lead or secondary roles in major productions, the musical boom of the 2010s did not come with a boom for the musical industry in the local level compared to the sudden popularity of American musicals like Hamilton, Heathers, Dear Evan Hansen, or Be More Chill to name a few.

The very few musicals that did garner the spotlight did not receive the same notoriety of these foreign productions save for one of the few musical movies to have gotten major media acclaim Loy Arcena's Ang Larawan (2017) (en. The Portrait) based on the 1997 play of the same name by National Artist Nick Joaquin which became a media frenzy as being maybe one of the few if not the only original movie not based on major series or created by a large production company to be released that year for the Metro Manila Film Festival. One of the things that had skyrocketed it to media attention was the fact that most theaters did not screen it and it was only shown in very few cinemas, but that's a story for another time.

Despite the time and devotion Filipino musical fans may have for theatre, rarely do Filipino made and produced musicals ever enter the pop culture zeitgeist due to many factors like the lack of advertising, accessibility issues, and honestly the lack of cast recordings. Out of the many throughout the 2010s, one of the few I was able to watch that I still think about at times is Ricky Lee's very own rap and rock musical Kabesang Tales.

Background

Photo of Ricky Lee, the writer of Kabesang Tales the Musical via Inquirer

Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical) (en. Captain Tales - A Rap n' Roll Musical) is a rap and rock musical first performed in the year 2015 and was written by renowned Filipino writer and National Artist Ricky Lee. The musical was directed by Alejandro "Bong" Ramos, with music by Jeffrey Hernandez and Alfredo Ongleo, and produced by Red Lantern Production (Inquirer, 2015).

Photo of John Arcilla, the lead actor for Kabesang Tales the Musical via Inquirer

The musical stars John Arcilla as the titular character Telesforo Juan "Kabesang Tales" De Dios, famously known for his breakout role as Hen. Anotnio Luna in the historical film Heneral Luna released the same year as the musical, alongside other talents such as Dio Marco as Karyo, Kevin Posadas as Tano de Dios, Alecx Lorica as Juli De Dios among many other talented actors (Inquirer, 2015).

A cover of one of the book's translations posted by twitter user El Filibusterismo (@/joseriz15155899) via X/Twitter

The play is based on Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo (en. The Filibuster) and more specifically, the character of Kabesang Tales, the head of his barangay (a sort of Filipino village) and father of Basilio's main love interest Juli, who had turned into a guerilla bandit after his family and life were ruined by the Spanish friars. He becomes the feared Matanglawin (en. Hawkeye) who terrorizes the countryside. He plays a minor but important role in the books, being the father of one of the main secondary characters as well as being one of the main allies of the primary characters as they tried to start a revolution in the country.

The play primarily focuses on his perspective throughout the whole book with some scenes focusing more on the main protagonists Simoun and Basilio as well as his daughter Juli.

Performances and Releases

The musical had limited performances throughout some parts of the CALABARZON Region or Region IV-A, with some select performances in Metro Manila as well as some other provinces like in Mindoro, sometime during the years 2015-2017 with some being done in local cultural centers and schools throughout the region with very limited promotion outside of news stories.

The only promotional material I could really find are some posts on Facebook and a trailer in the Red Lantern Production's YouTube channel which could be seen here:

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Trailer uploaded by Red Lantern Production via YouTube

There are no original cast recordings that I could find of any of the songs and the only material that I could find besides this are uploads on YouTube of scattered scenes from different parts of the play:

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Full Playlist uploaded by YouTube channel pheejaypi here

I was also able to find a collection of clips of Karyo, a character possibly named after Karyo from Mga Ibong Madaragit which is a continuation novel of the El Filibusterismo written by Amado Hernandez, played by Terrence Guillermo.

youtube

Video uploaded by YouTube channel pinoy music maestro here

I remember some time in the 2010s seeing uploads of members of the cast singing in interviews I believe but I could no longer find any of these videos.

As of now, it is unknown if the production will ever come back with the last post on the Facebook page having been in 2021 with a post prior to posted on July 2019 calling for auditions in August 2019, possibly hinting that there was a planned 2020 tour for the musical before the pandemic hit.

Photo of the audition announcement posted on Facebook

The Plot (mostly from memory)

As there's barely any material of the live musical, I'll do my best to recollect what I could remember with the aide of the actual books to guide me. Of course, spoilers for Rizal's books Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo if you haven't read them.

The plot follows the events of El Filibusterismo but mainly from the perspective of the titular character Kabesang Tales. It begins with an extremely happy and optimistic scene with him, his family, and barangay as well as the visit of Basilio, Tales's daughter's lover to their house. I remember that there was an extremely cheesy song here between the two that a lot of people squealed over.

Photo of the mentioned musical number between Basilio and Juli posted by Jayson Pascua

The perspective switches over to Basilio and his visit to his mother's grave where he is shocked to see a man there who is revealed to be the thought to be dead fugitive Crisostomo Ibarra who now goes by Simoun, a jewelry merchant from the United States. The two have a bit of an argument where Simoun tries to convince Basilio to join him and his rebellion and I don't recall exactly if there was a song, but it seems likely.

Perspective switches back to Tales as tragedy strikes as his entire family gets struck with malaria resulting in the death of his wife. I don't remember all the details here or if there was a song, but I remember a sort of depressing atmosphere for the rest of this part.

Photo showing all of the actors playing the De Dios Family posted by Jayson Pascua

The family struggles with money and friars come over to cause even more problems for them. There's a rap battle here between Tales and a friar. Here starts his downward spiral as he struggles to make ends meet as well as handle the friars that had been trying to gain his land. I don't recall if it's shown that he has to pay for a lot of lawyers, but he starts paying more and more for legal fees because of the legal drama with the friars and the government.

My sister tells me that there's a song about how good the friars are before they get properly introduced and I have a hazy memory of three friars wearing varied outfits typically associated with friars posing for the stage as people sing songs of praise and goodwill. My sister tells me that Basilio was in the ensemble here.

His son, Tano, gets drafted to the Guardia Civil (en. Civil Guard) and sent to the Caroline Islands because Tales could not pay money to prevent his draft due to their financial struggles. This is shown as a heart wrenching scene in the play where the rest of the family is left distraught.

He starts guarding his property in fear of bandits possibly taking his fields and taking whatever he has left.

Tales then gets taken by these bandits who demand ransom money for his return. There he meets Karyo, one of its leaders who tells him about the struggles of the working class and why he and the others had resorted to being bandits in the first place (?). I don't actually remember if this is the first they meet or what since I do remember that the two have a philosophical discussion about violence later and that Karyo is definitely a member of the bandits but there are scenes where he acts as the emcee during Tales's rap battle with the friar.

The bandits later lets him go back to his family where he finds that he has no one left.

Juli, in order to help with her family's financial struggles as well as pay for her father's ransom, leaves home and asks for loans and find work.

If I'm not mistaken, his father Tandang Selo goes mute with the grief of the continuous tragedies that had struck the family as well. It's hard for me to remember if this was shown in the musical.

When Tales returns, he finds himself at a loss for what has happened to his family. He is left with his daughter forced to work and his father mute. He is then met with Simoun, who comes to him as a jeweler. Simoun tempts him with some ideas of radicalization against the friars and he refuses at first before spiraling further and joining Karyo and his bandits, becoming the feared Matanglawin.

I genuinely don't remember if his meeting with Simoun was also in the musical or not but it's important context for the story.

The musical then switches perspective to Basilio, who gets implicated with a conspiracy against the government and gets arrested. A heartbroken Juli goes to Padre Camorra, a creepy priest that's been trying to corner her, to beg for his help since she saw no one else that could help her. This leads into a rather intense scene acted in shadows and lights where it is heavily implied that Juli gets assaulted.

After this, Juli sings a song about her assault where she contemplates getting revenge or retaliating but instead chooses to jump off to end her life.

The scene switches back to Tales who, unlike in the books, meet with his son again who has returned to the Philippines. This one, I know had a song in it since I remembered the extreme daddy issues punk rock vibes the scene gave off. He sang about how he no longer respected his father and that it's too late to repair things if I recall as he's now a bandit and he's a member of the Guardia Civil.

Photo of the confrontation between Tales and Tano where Tano sings about his frustration with his father posted by Jayson Pascua

Desolate and distraught at the loss of his family, Tales gets visited by a diwata (a forest spirit/fairy) and this part was extremely out of left field and absolutely not in the books.

Here, the diwata shows Tales visions of the future (???) and directly tells him, without any sort of subtlety, that the working class, and especially farmers like him, will continue to struggle in his country in the future. He is then shown a scene of farmers in a protest who were then taken down by police in what I remember as riot gear. He contemplates the future and is further given resolve to continue his rebellion.

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales first meets a diwata who will later send him to the future posted by Jayson Pascua

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is sent to the future by a diwata to witness farmers being taken down by cops in riot gear posted by Jayson Pascua

Another photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is sent to the future by a diwata to witness farmers being taken down by cops in riot gear posted by Jayson Pascua

I need to cut in and say that this was so on the nose and is by far the weirdest and personally maybe the worst part of the show. I'm not even against the message, it just ruined my immersion and just left a weird taste in my mouth. I think the play was doing a plenty good job driving that point across already without the time travel diwata scene but maybe that's just me.

The scene cuts back to the climax of the story where Basilio, distraught over then death of Juli, finally joins Ibarra as they plant a bomb in a wedding reception that the Governor-General of the Philippines was attending. The scene plays out like it was in the books where the lamp gets tossed out by Isagani and the revolution doesn't start.

It goes back to a scene of Tales and his men trying to fight the Guardia Civil where he is shot and killed in action, by the gun of his own son. Tano realizes what he has done and is horrified. This leads to a song which later leads to a finale that sings about Tales as the cast come together for the curtains to close.

Photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is shot and killed by his son Tano posted by Jayson Pascua

Another photo of the mentioned scene where Tales is shot and killed by his son Tano posted by Jayson Pascua

The musical ends and the cast is called on to the stage one by one, with the loudest applause going to Basilio who a lot of the girls found hot, and of course, the man himself, Kabesang Tales.

Photo of the closing song with Tales being shown front and center posted by Jayson Pascua

After the play and final thoughts

Ricky Lee actually attended the performance I watched and I remember so many people crowding around the actors to get their autographs. My sister bought one of Ricky Lee's book, his script writing guide "Trip to Quiapo" and had it signed but she genuinely can't find it anymore sadly. My sister also got the autograph of some of the actors and the director on that same book so I'm a little miffed that we can't find it.

I would discuss more things and even show off my old ticket but I'm pretty sure that I would end up doxxing myself if I speak any more details.

That's all I remember from it and I would love to say more or even discuss the songs but as you can see, I could barely remember them, with only maybe a solid grasp in about maybe four songs.

It's a shame that it doesn't have as much of an established release and media presence because despite that one glaring issue I had with the weird diwata scene, I quite enjoyed the musical and it remains one of the few that I actually got to experience live.

It isn't Les Miserables or Hamilton, but it's still a musical I'll probably fondly remember especially since El Filibusterismo is one of my favorite books of all time with the character of Kabesang Tales being one of the most interesting — a man of honor and virtue who slowly descends into extremist violence because society had failed him. It's sad to see this musical barely recognized and very little talked about today and I do hope that it will one day return to the stage.

References

Introduction

Palakat Batangas City. (2015, May 29). "The Batangas City Government and Red Lantern Production present Ricky Lee’s KABESANG TALES - Isang Rap en Rol Musical." [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://web.facebook.com/palakat.batangascity/photos/a.1543377512565520/1636600273243243/?type=3&_rdc=1&_rdr

Background

El Filibusterismo (@joseriz15155899). (2019, November 13). "#TheFilibuster Ventura's salvificact made Rizal gave his original manuscript of El Filibusterismo, a pen and an autograph printed copy." [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://twitter.com/joseriz15155899/status/1194459895657041920

Inquirer. (2015, December 12). John Arcilla stars in Ricky Lee ‘rap en rol’ musical ‘Kabesang Tales’. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/215824/john-arcilla-stars-in-ricky-lee-rap-en-rol-musical-kabesang-tales/

Inquirer. (2015, August 29). Ricky Lee writes rap, hip-hop libretto for new musical ‘Kabesang Tales’. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/204943/ricky-lee-writes-rap-hip-hop-libretto-for-new-musical-kabesang-tales/

Lee, R. (2015, August 29). Ricky Lee: “I have been longing to do a musical, music being a driving passion in my life.” PHOTO FROM RICKY LEE [image]. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/204943/ricky-lee-writes-rap-hip-hop-libretto-for-new-musical-kabesang-tale

Red Lantern Productions. (2015, December 2012). John Arcilla. PHOTO FROM RED LANTERN PRODUCTIONS [image]. LIFESTYLE.INQ. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/215824/john-arcilla-stars-in-ricky-lee-rap-en-rol-musical-kabesang-tale

Performances and Releases

Kabesang Tales - Isang Rap en Rol Musical. (2019, July 27). Picture of the audition announcement posted on Facebook [image]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://web.facebook.com/kabesangtalestherockmusicale/photos/a.459803204196123/1309076952602073/

pheejaypi. (2016, October 3). Kabesang Tales: Isang Rap en Rol Musical clip 1 [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jftRyZOpxAA&list=PL1Yv-w-s-ETvRYsDWtaMPw2q0QO0q8Nfc

pinoy music maestro. (2021, January 1). Kabesang Tales excerpts feat. John Arcilla and Terence Guillermo [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlOkDi8_D_A

Red Lantern Production. (2015, August 15). Kabesang Tales Trailer [video]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CKKJsuBiuc

Plot

Pascua, J. (2015, October 11). Various photos [images]. Retrieved on 17 February 2024, from https://estranghero.weebly.com/photo-blog/john-arcilla-on-ricky-lees-kabesang-tales-isang-rap-en-roll-musical

#filipinfodump #filipino #philippines #filipino theatre #filipino musicals #musical theatre #musicals #filipino music #el filibusterismo #kabesang tales - isang rap en rol musical #kabesang tales #jose rizal #ricky lee #violence tw #sa tw #police brutality tw #police violence tw #mod maya

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filipinfodump · 3 months

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Dangkaw

Legend from the Ilokano People of the Philippines

In the olden times, there was a hunter named Dangkaw. He was widely known for his skills of hunting different animals in the forest. No one could equal the number of animals he brought home from a hunt. One day, he went hunting again in the forest. He saw a deer which he shot and killed. When he was going to pick up the deer he had killed, a beautiful woman appeared. This beauty was a fairy of the forest. She was very angry with Dangkaw for his killing the deer. She said that he must be punished. She ruled that he live in the forest, not with his family. Dangkaw had to go home accompanied by the fairy who turned invisible. He explained to his wife what had happened and bid her good-bye. He returned to the forest and the fairy reappeared. She told him that he would stay there forever and that he was going to take care of the animals in the forest. Dangkaw and the fairy got married and they stayed in the forest taking care of the different animals in the forest. The people say that when the hunters go to the mountain or the forest and they hear a shout, they would not catch anything and all the animals would leave. Even to this day, the hunters say that when they hear a shout while hunting, they cannot catch anything. So they say that Dangkaw is still there guarding the animals. From Philippine Folk Literature Series: Vol. III, The Legends (2002), compiled and edited by Damiana L. Eugenio, published by The University of the Philippines Press (shopee, amazon)

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filipinfodump · 3 months

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The Legend of Bernardo Carpio

Legend from the Tagalog People of the Philippines

As Golems is to the Jews, so is Bernardo Carpio to the Filipino race. Bernardo Carpio is considered the savior of the Filipinos against national oppression and enslavement. From time immemorial, this legend of Bernardo Carpio has been believed by many. They say that he is imprisoned inside the legendary mountain of San Mateo beyond Montalban. The strength of Bernardo Carpio is like that of Hercules. According to popular belief, even as a child he could already pull out and uproot trees without any effort. His strength and courage are tremendous and he makes sport of the lighting and the thunder. It is the belief of many that Bernardo Carpio is not only imprisoned, but his feet are held down by chains because of his dangerous strength. The chains binding one foot, it is said, have been broken and that binding the other foot is short because every ten years the chain is shorted by one link. The moment Bernardo Carpio is freed from his chains, the enslavement and oppression of the Filipino race will be replaced by freedom and happiness

From Philippine Folk Literature Series: Vol. III, The Legends (2002), compiled and edited by Damiana L. Eugenio, published by The University of the Philippines Press (shopee, amazon)

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filipinfodump · 22 days

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I was able to get the story from the woman who works for us who I will call Ka-J. and I had some interesting things come up from similar aswang stories I had read before. Here's some of the highlights of the story while I try to work on the transcript maybe for the next few days:

Aswangs could possess people and would often do so for selfish and even petty reasons. The possessed person was possessed for such a petty and miniscule reason that I'm honestly so perplexed. She possessed the woman because she... smelled good???? Like girl WHAT???? Just ask for her perfume brand or her laundry detergent brand holy shit

They fear holy items like crosses and rosaries. The possessed person from the story was cutting up rosaries and that's what primarily gave the aswang away.

The aswang could make the person's voice change. The possessed person was speaking at a strange tone extremely unfamiliar to her children.

The aswang may speak different languages, maybe unintelligible to the average person. I asked if it was in Latin or whatever stereotypical thing, but Ka-J said she could not determine that.

When the aswang was asked "Where did you come from? Above or below?", the aswang answered that she was "From below." implying that aswang do come from hell at least from this one incident.

The aswang exorcism didn't fully work the first time around so they had to do it twice. After the first instance, she was apparently worse.

They dislike calamansi which is something I've seen in some sources. This was done as an emergency way to freak out the aswang.

Folk healers could exorcise the aswang out of the person. Sometimes they may need the assistance of multiple healers. Ka-J. had told me that there were up to 7 to 8 healers during the final exorcism.

Some other interesting bits from the story that was told to me after or are things that seem just a little interesting to not add in but didn't fit the rest of the list:

The folk healers used an item she called "saway" (Note that Ka-J. is Bisaya but considering this takes place locally here, they probably call it a different name in the Tagalog region). She describes it as a brown (stick?) thing with a thorn attached. She says that there's a bit of gold on the item and when it pricks the aswang, the wound doesn't heal. I don't know what this item is, but it's similar to some stories I read where they would use certain tree branches or the buntot pagi (stingray tail) to injure the aswang.

The aswang was apprently a 50-year-old aswang woman. Very specific thing to have come from the exorcism. Besides that, she also gave her name and her "earth address" but Ka-J has forgotten what these were but it's probably pretty local.

One of the folk healers have a YouTube channel where he uploads the cases he handles. I had the displeasure of finding one of the videos and it is genuinely disturbing. It was just a woman crying but there was something eerie about it. I may not investigate further and I'm not going to link it here not only because of its disturbing nature, but this would essentially probably doxx me and I don't want these poor people's faces floating around because of my post.

I will try to get to actually transcribing + translating the short interview from the recording in maybe a couple of days. I think I may need to take a short break though since I feel a little uneasy after hearing and watching all that.

#filipinfodump #philippines #filipino #aswang #filipino folklore #filipino folk monsters #filipino monsters #filipino witchcraft #filipino aswang #folk healers #folk healing #folk monsters #witchcraft #exorcism #albularyo #possession tw #demon tw #mod maya

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