Copyright © 2011 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.
Based from the Executive Policy Brief "Will China and India Lead the Asian Century?" penned by Prof Chester B. Cabalza
“Both China and India are on the fast track of economic and social development, demonstrating to the world bright future of the two countries and the promise of a revitalized Asia” – PM Ju Hintao, People’s Republic of China
“I reiterate India’s commitment to work with Asean and other East Asian countries to make the 21st century an Asian century” – PM Manmohan Singh, India
Background
ASIA is vast. It is the largest and most populous continent in the world. Given its size, complexity, longevity and diversity, Asia is more a cultural/political concept incorporating its four geographical regions than a homogenous physical entity. Culturally, four earliest great civilizations developed interdependently in Asia with the rise of: Sumerian/Mesopotamian civilization in West Asia; the Indus civilization in South Asia; the Sinitic civilization in Northeast Asia; and the agrarian/maritime civilization in Southeast Asia. But two longest geographical centers in Asia survived by the Indus (Indian) and Sinic (Chinese) civilizations are now re-emerging in the 21st century, reversing the tide and centrifugal force in trade and commerce, power and wealth, and leveling off the playing field in a fast globalizing world.[1]
China today is the world’s oldest continuous civilization but its official policy on peaceful rise must be inferential. However, India had ‘Indianized’ almost all countries in Southeast Asia from 1st to 15th century common era (CE), transporting their culture by way of religion, language, governance, and civilization – now injected in its look east policy as they renew their engagement with Asean.
For fifteen centuries, China and India prior to western conquests of Asia in 16th century were the world’s economic and military superpowers. At the height of the Han dynasty in China and the Maurya dynasty in India, both affluent and powerful oriental countries traded with occidental’s Roman empire, with remnants of the infamous “Silk Road” as part of their commercial trades in ancient times.
Western scholars concede that Asia has enjoyed technological leadership in the past, especially in China, which was the world's most advanced country a thousand years ago. The Chinese invented paper around 105 CE. Government Service exams were established in 154 BC. As for China’s technological innovations, the compass came about 1100 CE, gunpowder around 1000 CE, block printing about the same time and silk by 1300 CE.[2]
The past ‘triumvirate’ of China, India, and Rome’s pax Romana in the past when translated in today’s political dynamics in international system has the re-emergence of China and India on the side with the United States’ pax Americana as the successor of the western power’s past glory.
At present, we live in a uni-multipolar world with the US remaining to be the lone superpower in terms of hard and soft powers but is now challenged by developing yet emerging great powers such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) including the lone suprastate of the European Union (EU).
But now we see revitalized China and India or Chindia [3] as the “new Asian drivers of global change” that are becoming global players that can forcefully alter the relationship between the industrialized and the developing countries. More so, both leaders of these two continental Asian argonauts are pronouncing positive views in their re-emergence.
Issues in the Re-emergence of China and India
1) What would be the tone of Asian security supercomplex in succeeding decade when China and India emerge as global powers?
2) What other security implications that China and India will have to confront in their current competition to hegemony in Asia?
3) Will the US-China-India tripartite relationship becomes the most challenging endeavor that Asia-Pacific region is facing to define their roles in the future?
Realpolitik in Asian Security Supercomplex
“Let us work together to enhance China-India strategic and cooperative partnership, build a world of enduring peace and common prosperity and create a bright future for our two countries and two peoples” – PM Ju Hintao
Professor Kenneth Waltz, one of the foremost proponents of Structural Realism or Neorealism deems that, “the desire and relative abilities of each state to maximize power results in a ‘balance power’ that shapes international relations. It also gives rise to the ‘security dilemma’ that all nations face.”[4]
Asian countries, particularly China and India, despite of their friendly pronouncements and policies toward its neighbors and with each other, have tendencies to realpolitik – a foreign policy based on pragmatic concerns and political expediency rather than ideals and ethics. Thus, as influential actors in the security dynamics of Asia and the world, they both focus on the balance of power among nation-states.
By definition of great power, [5] Asia actually houses two great powers, namely, China and India. However, it also contains five nuclear-weapon states (NWS) that include China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Iran. Plus three nuclear-threshold states, like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. [6]
These two competitive Asian countries when combined together in population comprise about 40 percent of humanity. China is the world’s largest communist country while India is seen as the globe’s largest democratic country to date. But despite of their increasing multilateral engagements [7] – both sides have been cautious and suspicious of each other. In fact, the last war fought by India and China was in 1962. They have past upheavals and misunderstandings due to issues on territorial disputes, political and cultural differences, nuclear capabilities, and economic competition.
There has been no resolution to the issue over remote and heavily militarized territories in the Himalayas in spite of numerous rounds of negotiations and tensions that have flared recently. The intention of China’s policy is to befriend all its neighbors. But China fears escalation of conflicts in Kashmir over India and Pakistan’s claims. However, some Indian analysts see that China behaves differently by building strategic vantage points around India’s neighbors as China keeps founding several naval projects from Pakistan to Bangladesh to Sri Lanka to Maldives as “quiet encirclement of India.”[8]
The Archaeology of Chindia – PH Relations
There is a debate in the academe whether which country first discovered the Philippines. However, the word “discovery” must not be equated with “colonization”. This new glimpse of our prehistory is currently in circulation now whether the Indians or Chinese first discovered the Philippines. Spain called our country, the Philippines, in honor of King Philip. As a matter of fact, it was Spain as the first western power that colonized and integrated our islands, as they aptly called this colony then as, “Las Islas Filipinas”.
F. Landa Jocano would suggest that Filipinos should retrace our prehistoric culture as one of the fundamental preconditions for having a better understanding of the contemporary Filipino society. This prehistoric past is the foundation of our present society. It is also the least known and understood aspect of Philippine studies.[9]
As scholars unearth the archeology of international relations of Philippines with China and India, pieces of archeological findings have shown that based from Chinese records, Chinese chroniclers called Mindoro as Ma-i.
Ancient Chinese records from the Song and Ming dynasties which spanned more than six centuries suggested that Chinese dealt not only with tradesmen from Ma-i but also from Sulu (where the finest pearls of imperial China came from), Puduan (Butuan where the trademark balangays first built), Sanmalan (Zamboanga), Bauiper (Babuyan), Balouyou (Palawan), Liyin (Lingayen), Shahuchong (Saiton in Negros Oriental), and Malilua (Manila).[10]
In June 1993, based from the Palawan archeological discovery, the wreck of a 15th century Chinese junk yielded thousands of artifacts including jars, ceramics, and coins bearing the date of ‘1414’ that coincided with the time frame of Admiral Zheng He’s expedition as he circumnavigated the world. These artifacts are now displayed prominently in our National Museum.
That according to Ming dynasty annals, some of Zheng He’s ships were more than 140 meters longs, larger than Santa Maria, the largest of the three ships of Columbus sailed almost a century later. From 1401 to 1433, under the great Admiral He, seven large naval expeditions some carrying as many as 28 thousand soldiers sailed throughout the China sea and Indian ocean.[11]
Filipino diplomats, however, suggested that it was during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) that Philippine-China friendship reached its peak. In one of the accounts of Sino-Sulu relations narrated in the Ming annals, it was recorded that the Sultan of Sulu, Paduka Patara, visited China in 1417 where he was royally received by the Chinese emperor. On his way home after a 27-day visit, the Sultan was stricken ill and died in the city of Dezhou in Shandong province. The emperor honored the Muslim king with the title of Kong Ting (brother) and ordered the building of a handsome mausoleum to mark the tomb of his Filipino friend – the only tomb of a foreign monarch in honor of the 15th century Sulu Sultan.[12]
However, if we expand the context of prehistory in Southeast Asia, particularly on the discovery of the Philippines, Southeast Asian region was entirely Indianized except for Vietnam. The Philippines boasts scattered sophisticated ‘baranganic organizations’ predated prior to the coming of the western powers. But again, those who led the so-called ‘barangays’ carried Indianized political titles such as ‘rajah’ or datu. Therefore, the presumption that Indians first discovered the Philippines is possible; or perhaps maritime Indianized kingdoms in insular Southeast Asia.
Some historians and anthropologists speculate that the Philippines was for a time part of the Sri Vijayan Empire [13] from 4th to 10th centuries, which has been described as Hinduistic in culture, prior to the entry of Islam in Sulu archipelago in 13th century and Catholism in the Visayas island in 16th century. Hence, the ancient Filipino alphabet originated or copied from India.
About twenty-five percent of the words in the Tagalog language are Sanskrit terms. [14] The rich Indian literature also has a share to Filipino literature and folklore. The Maranao epic Darangan is Indian in plot and characterization. The Agusan legend of a man named Manubo Ango, who was turned into stone, resembles the story of Ahalya in the Hindu epic Ramayana. The tale of the Ifugao legendary hero, Balituk, who obtained water from the rock with his arrow, is similar to Arjuna's adventure in Mahabharata, another Hindu epic.[15]
Several Chindia’s Bilateral and Multilateral Engagements
China’s Good Neighborliness
Bilateral: Free trade Agreement (FTA) with each of the ten-member countries of Asean which prospered to become China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
Multilateral: ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee (ACJCC); Asean Regional Forum (ARF); Asean Plus Three (APT); Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM); Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC); China-Asean Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA); China-Asean Summit; East Asia Summit (EAS)
India’s Look East Policy
Bilateral: Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and Singapore; Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Thailand
Multilateral: Asean Regional Forum (ARF); Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Economic and Technological Cooperation (BIMSTEC); Indo-Asean Summit; East Asia Summit (EAS); Kunming Initiative (KI); Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC)
Policy Recommendations
1. That the Philippines should engage equally to China and India as both countries aspire to becoming superpowers from their current great power positions. This is to strengthen nascent cooperative security to manage the security supercomplex in the region.
2. From 1st to 15th century, China and India were the world's major economies with the Roman empire’s pax Romana as the counterpart in the West. Now and in the coming decades, China and India will re-emerge as the planet's plausible economic superpowers, co-existing with the United States' hard power, however, declining pax Americana will still represent the West, posing a continuous triumvirates in the coming decades. The Philippines should calibrate its alliance with both re-emerging Asian neighbors while balancing its continuous engagement with the United States – as its strongest western ally.
3. As a host country to migrant Chinese and Indian workers and expatriates, some of their nationals have already been assimilated in our society and culture, the Philippines must take advantage of our good relations with both Asian giant countries as we gauge cooperation in science, research, technology, higher education, in agriculture, defense infrastructure, industry development, and the business process outsourcing.
Conclusion
China and India (Chindia) are the “new Asian drivers of global change” becoming global players that will forcefully alter the relationship between the industrialized and developing countries. The re-emergence of China and India as both economic and political actors is having, and will have far-reaching impacts over the next decade and beyond as Asians realize the new Asian century.
Endnotes
[1] Chester B. Cabalza, The Rise of China and India, page 82 in Political Dimension of National Security (International), e-MNSA, NDCP, 2010.
[2] Gary Schilling, Productivity Growth and Prospects for Asia, pages 75-76, in Julian Weiss (Ed), Tigers’ Roar: Asia’s Recovery and Its Impact, Armonk: New York and London: England, An East Gate Book Publication, 2001.
[3] Chindia is a portmanteau word that refers to China and India together in general.
[4] In his book, Theory of International Politics, page 250, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
[5] Great powers are states that have capabilities to play major role in international politics with respect to security-related issues. They must possess global military reach and have the ability to project force around the globe, and as a result, they can intervene in any regional security complex whenever it suits its interests.
[6] Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
[7] China now views multilateral institutions as useful diplomatic platforms that can be utilized to advance its own foreign policy objectives while India wants to foster closer economic ties with its neighbors with strong emphasis on renewing political and economic contacts.
[8] Col PS Rajeshwar, India-China Relations: Its Implications on the Asean, NDCP (thesis), 2008.
[9] F. Landa Jocano, Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage. Quezon City: Punlad Research House, Inc., 2001.
[10] Samie Lim, Reclaiming the Philippines Entrepreneurial Heritage, page 24, BizNews Asia, April 2011.
[11] Fidel Ramos, China Rising, US Falling Behind? BizNews Asia, February 2011.
[12] Salvador Laurel, China Update 2000, Manila, PDM Press, 2000.
[13] It is argued that the early Filipinos carried on trade with Borneo, Celebes, Java, Sumatra, and other countries of Southeast Asia. And through Sri Vijaya and Majapahit, they received India's cultural influences. The early contact between India and the Philippines was decidedly indirect via Malaysia (arguments found at http://www.geocities.com, but others speculate that The Indian influence on Philippines is explicable by the fact that it was for 150 years a colony of a Java-based Hindu Empire of Sri Vijaya (speculations found at http://www.asiafinest.com. Both websites are accessed on June 2007 and 2011.
[14] Explained at http://www.asiafinest.com, last accessed on May 2011. Among such popular words are still in use today are: dala (fishnet), asawa (spouse), diwa (thought), puri (honor), lakambini (princess), and wika (language).
[15] Chester Cabalza, A Preliminary Study on Early Indian and Chinese Influences in Philippine Ethnomathematics, page 6, UP CSSP
References
Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Chester Cabalza, The Rise of China and India, in Political Dimension of National Security (International), e-MNSA, NDCP, 2010.
Chester Cabalza, A Preliminary Study on Early Indian and Chinese Influences in Philippine Ethnomathematics, UP Sinag CSSP, 1999.
F. Landa Jocano, Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage. Quezon City: Punlad Research House, Inc., 2001.
Salvador Laurel, China Update 2000, Manila, PDM Press, 2000.
Samie Lim, Reclaiming the Philippines Entrepreneurial Heritage, BizNews Asia, 2011.
Fidel Ramos, China Rising, US Falling Behind? BizNews Asia, 2011.
Col PS Rajeshwar, India-China Relations: Its Implications on the Asean, NDCP (thesis), 2008.
Gary Schilling, Productivity Growth and Prospects for Asia, in Julian Weiss (Ed), Tigers’ Roar: Asia’s Recovery and Its Impact, Armonk: New York and London: England, An East Gate Book Publication, 2001.
Kenneth Waltz, Theory of International Politics, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Syllabus in Anthropology 225 (1ST SEM): Philippine Culture and Society
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Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Smart Communications, Inc. & PILTEl v. NTC
Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!
G.R. No. 151908 August 12, 2003
SMART COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (SMART) and PILIPINO TELEPHONE CORPORATION (PILTEL), petitioners,
vs.
NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NTC), respondent.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. 152063 August 12, 2003
GLOBE TELECOM, INC. (GLOBE) and ISLA COMMUNICATIONS CO., INC. (ISLACOM), petitioners,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS (The Former 6th Division) and the NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, respondents.
Facts:
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued on June 16, 2000 Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000, promulgating rules and regulations on the billing of telecommunications services.
The Memorandum Circular provided that it shall take effect 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation and three certified true copies thereof furnished the UP Law Center. It was published in the newspaper, The Philippine Star, on June 22, 2000. Meanwhile, the provisions of the Memorandum Circular pertaining to the sale and use of prepaid cards and the unit of billing for cellular mobile telephone service took effect 90 days from the effectivity of the Memorandum Circular.
On August 30, 2000, the NTC issued a Memorandum to all cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS) operators which contained measures to minimize if not totally eliminate the incidence of stealing of cellular phone units. This was followed by another Memorandum dated October 6, 2000 addressed to all public telecommunications entities.
Isla Communications Co., Inc. and Pilipino Telephone Corporation filed against the National Telecommunications Commission, Commissioner Joseph A. Santiago, Deputy Commissioner Aurelio M. Umali and Deputy Commissioner Nestor C. Dacanay, an action for declaration of nullity of NTC Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000 (the Billing Circular) and the NTC Memorandum dated October 6, 2000, with prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.
Petitioners alleged that NTC has no jurisdiction to regulate the sale of consumer goods such as the prepaid call cards since such jurisdiction belongs to the Department of Trade and Industry under the Consumer Act of the Philippines; that the Billing Circular is oppressive, confiscatory and violative of the constitutional prohibition against deprivation of property without due process of law; that the Circular will result in the impairment of the viability of the prepaid cellular service by unduly prolonging the validity and expiration of the prepaid SIM and call cards; and that the requirements of identification of prepaid card buyers and call balance announcement are unreasonable. Hence, they prayed that the Billing Circular be declared null and void ab initio.
Globe Telecom, Inc and Smart Communications, Inc. filed a joint Motion for Leave to Intervene and to Admit Complaint-in-Intervention and this was granted by the trial court.
Respondent NTC and its co-defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground of petitioners' failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Likewise, Globe and Islacom filed a petition for review, docketed as G.R. No. 152063, assigning the following errors. Thus, two petitions were consolidated in a Resolution dated February 17, 2003.
Issues:
1. Whether NTC has a jurisdiction and not the regular courts over the case; and
2. Whether Billing Circular issued by NTC is unconstitutional and contrary to law and public policy.
Held:
Jurisdiction: NTC vs. RTC
Administrative agencies possess quasi-legislative or rule-making powers and quasi-judicial or administrative adjudicatory powers. Quasi-legislative or rule-making power is the power to make rules and regulations which results in delegated legislation that is within the confines of the granting statute and the doctrine of non-delegability and separability of powers.
The doctrine of primary jurisdiction applies only where the administrative agency exercises its quasi-judicial or adjudicatory function. Thus, in cases involving specialized disputes, the practice has been to refer the same to an administrative agency of special competence pursuant to the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. The courts will not determine a controversy involving a question which is within the jurisdiction of the administrative tribunal prior to the resolution of that question by the administrative tribunal, where the question demands the exercise of sound administrative discretion requiring the special knowledge, experience and services of the administrative tribunal to determine technical and intricate matters of fact, and a uniformity of ruling is essential to comply with the premises of the regulatory statute administered.
Hence, the Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction to hear and decide Civil Case No. Q-00-42221. The Court of Appeals erred in setting aside the orders of the trial court and in dismissing the case.
Constitutionality of the Circular
In questioning the validity or constitutionality of a rule or regulation issued by an administrative agency, a party need not exhaust administrative remedies before going to court. This principle applies only where the act of the administrative agency concerned was performed pursuant to its quasi-judicial function, and not when the assailed act pertained to its rule-making or quasi-legislative power.
However, where what is assailed is the validity or constitutionality of a rule or regulation issued by the administrative agency in the performance of its quasi-legislative function, the regular courts have jurisdiction to pass upon the same. The determination of whether a specific rule or set of rules issued by an administrative agency contravenes the law or the constitution is within the jurisdiction of the regular courts.
In the case at bar, the issuance by the NTC of Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000 and its Memorandum dated October 6, 2000 was pursuant to its quasi-legislative or rule-making power.
Ruling:
Contrary to the finding of the Court of Appeals, the issues raised in the complaint do not entail highly technical matters. Rather, what is required of the judge who will resolve this issue is a basic familiarity with the workings of the cellular telephone service, including prepaid SIM and call cards – and this is judicially known to be within the knowledge of a good percentage of our population – and expertise in fundamental principles of civil law and the Constitution.
Hence, the consolidated petitions are granted but the decision of the Court of Appeals on the civil cases are reversed and set aside. Thus, it is remanded to the court a quo for continuation of the proceedings.
G.R. No. 151908 August 12, 2003
SMART COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (SMART) and PILIPINO TELEPHONE CORPORATION (PILTEL), petitioners,
vs.
NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NTC), respondent.
x---------------------------------------------------------x
G.R. No. 152063 August 12, 2003
GLOBE TELECOM, INC. (GLOBE) and ISLA COMMUNICATIONS CO., INC. (ISLACOM), petitioners,
vs.
COURT OF APPEALS (The Former 6th Division) and the NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION, respondents.
Facts:
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued on June 16, 2000 Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000, promulgating rules and regulations on the billing of telecommunications services.
The Memorandum Circular provided that it shall take effect 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation and three certified true copies thereof furnished the UP Law Center. It was published in the newspaper, The Philippine Star, on June 22, 2000. Meanwhile, the provisions of the Memorandum Circular pertaining to the sale and use of prepaid cards and the unit of billing for cellular mobile telephone service took effect 90 days from the effectivity of the Memorandum Circular.
On August 30, 2000, the NTC issued a Memorandum to all cellular mobile telephone service (CMTS) operators which contained measures to minimize if not totally eliminate the incidence of stealing of cellular phone units. This was followed by another Memorandum dated October 6, 2000 addressed to all public telecommunications entities.
Isla Communications Co., Inc. and Pilipino Telephone Corporation filed against the National Telecommunications Commission, Commissioner Joseph A. Santiago, Deputy Commissioner Aurelio M. Umali and Deputy Commissioner Nestor C. Dacanay, an action for declaration of nullity of NTC Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000 (the Billing Circular) and the NTC Memorandum dated October 6, 2000, with prayer for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.
Petitioners alleged that NTC has no jurisdiction to regulate the sale of consumer goods such as the prepaid call cards since such jurisdiction belongs to the Department of Trade and Industry under the Consumer Act of the Philippines; that the Billing Circular is oppressive, confiscatory and violative of the constitutional prohibition against deprivation of property without due process of law; that the Circular will result in the impairment of the viability of the prepaid cellular service by unduly prolonging the validity and expiration of the prepaid SIM and call cards; and that the requirements of identification of prepaid card buyers and call balance announcement are unreasonable. Hence, they prayed that the Billing Circular be declared null and void ab initio.
Globe Telecom, Inc and Smart Communications, Inc. filed a joint Motion for Leave to Intervene and to Admit Complaint-in-Intervention and this was granted by the trial court.
Respondent NTC and its co-defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground of petitioners' failure to exhaust administrative remedies. Likewise, Globe and Islacom filed a petition for review, docketed as G.R. No. 152063, assigning the following errors. Thus, two petitions were consolidated in a Resolution dated February 17, 2003.
Issues:
1. Whether NTC has a jurisdiction and not the regular courts over the case; and
2. Whether Billing Circular issued by NTC is unconstitutional and contrary to law and public policy.
Held:
Jurisdiction: NTC vs. RTC
Administrative agencies possess quasi-legislative or rule-making powers and quasi-judicial or administrative adjudicatory powers. Quasi-legislative or rule-making power is the power to make rules and regulations which results in delegated legislation that is within the confines of the granting statute and the doctrine of non-delegability and separability of powers.
The doctrine of primary jurisdiction applies only where the administrative agency exercises its quasi-judicial or adjudicatory function. Thus, in cases involving specialized disputes, the practice has been to refer the same to an administrative agency of special competence pursuant to the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. The courts will not determine a controversy involving a question which is within the jurisdiction of the administrative tribunal prior to the resolution of that question by the administrative tribunal, where the question demands the exercise of sound administrative discretion requiring the special knowledge, experience and services of the administrative tribunal to determine technical and intricate matters of fact, and a uniformity of ruling is essential to comply with the premises of the regulatory statute administered.
Hence, the Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction to hear and decide Civil Case No. Q-00-42221. The Court of Appeals erred in setting aside the orders of the trial court and in dismissing the case.
Constitutionality of the Circular
In questioning the validity or constitutionality of a rule or regulation issued by an administrative agency, a party need not exhaust administrative remedies before going to court. This principle applies only where the act of the administrative agency concerned was performed pursuant to its quasi-judicial function, and not when the assailed act pertained to its rule-making or quasi-legislative power.
However, where what is assailed is the validity or constitutionality of a rule or regulation issued by the administrative agency in the performance of its quasi-legislative function, the regular courts have jurisdiction to pass upon the same. The determination of whether a specific rule or set of rules issued by an administrative agency contravenes the law or the constitution is within the jurisdiction of the regular courts.
In the case at bar, the issuance by the NTC of Memorandum Circular No. 13-6-2000 and its Memorandum dated October 6, 2000 was pursuant to its quasi-legislative or rule-making power.
Ruling:
Contrary to the finding of the Court of Appeals, the issues raised in the complaint do not entail highly technical matters. Rather, what is required of the judge who will resolve this issue is a basic familiarity with the workings of the cellular telephone service, including prepaid SIM and call cards – and this is judicially known to be within the knowledge of a good percentage of our population – and expertise in fundamental principles of civil law and the Constitution.
Hence, the consolidated petitions are granted but the decision of the Court of Appeals on the civil cases are reversed and set aside. Thus, it is remanded to the court a quo for continuation of the proceedings.
RCPI v. Provincial Assesor of South Cotabato, et. al.
Chester Cabalza recommends his visitors to please read the original & full text of the case cited. Xie xie!
G.R. No. 144486. April 13, 2005
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC. (RCPI), Petitioner,
vs.
PROVINCIAL ASSESOR OF SOUTH COTABATO, PROVINCIAL TREASURER OF SOUTH COTABATO, MUNICIPAL ASSESSOR OF TUPI, SOUTH COTABATO, and MUNICIPAL TREASURER OF TUPI, SOUTH COTABATO, Respondents.
Facts:
R.A. No. 2036 of 1957, as amended by R.A. No. 4054, granted RCPI a 50-year franchise. Thus, Sec. 14 of the amended law, in gist, provides that the grantee shall pay the same taxes as may be required by law. Said tax shall be in lieu of any and all taxes of any kind, nature or description levied, established or collected by any authority whatsoever, municipal, provincial or national, from which taxes the grantee is hereby expressly exempted.
On 10 June 1985, the municipal treasurer of Tupi, South Cotabato assessed RCPI real property taxes from 1981 to 1985. The municipal treasurer demanded that RCPI pay P166,810 as real property tax on its radio station building in Barangay Kablon, as well as on its machinery shed, radio relay station tower and its accessories, and generating sets, based on the following tax declarations.
RCPI protested the assessment before the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA') and claimed that all its assessed properties are personal properties and thus exempt from the real property tax. It also pointed out that its franchise exempts RCPI from 'paying any and all taxes of any kind, nature or description in exchange for its payment of tax equal to one and one-half per cent on all gross receipts from the business conducted under its franchise. It further claimed that any deviation from its franchise would violate the non-impairment of contract clause of the Constitution. Finally, RCPI stated that the value of the properties assessed has depreciated since their acquisition in the 1960s.
The Provincial Assessor of South Cotabato opposed RCPI's claims on all points.
The Local Board of Assessment Appeals ruled that appellant is ordered to pay the real property taxes, inclusive of all penalties, surcharges and interest accruing as of the date of actual payment, on the properties covered; in which the Central Board of Assessment Appeals affirmed.
The Appelate Court ruled that decision of the Central Board of Assessment Appeals is hereby MODIFIED. Petitioner is declared exempt from paying the real property taxes assessed upon its machinery and radio equipment mounted as accessories to its relay tower. The decision assessing taxes upon petitioner's radio station building, machinery shed, and relay station tower is, however, affirmed.
Issues:
1. Whether the appellate court erred when it excluded RCPI's tower, relay station building, and machinery shed from tax exemption; and
2. Whether the appellate court erred when it did not resolve the issue of nullity of the tax declarations and assessments due to non-inclusion of depreciation allowance.
Held:
Exemption from Real Property Tax
First, Congress passed the Local Government Code that withdrew all the tax exemptions existing at the time of its passage including that of RCPI's. Second, Congress enacted the franchise of telecommunications companies, such as Islacom, Bell, Island Country, IslaTel, TeleTech, Major Telecoms, and Smart, with the 'in lieu of all taxes' proviso. Third, Congress passed RA 7925 entitled 'An Act to Promote and Govern the Development of Philippine Telecommunications and the Delivery of Public Telecommunications Services' which, through Section 23, mandated the equality of treatment of service providers in the telecommunications industry.
The existing legislative policy is clearly against the revival of the 'in lieu of all taxes' clause in franchises of telecommunications companies. After the VAT on telecommunications companies took effect on January 1, 1996, Congress never again included the 'in lieu of all taxes' clause in any telecommunications franchise it subsequently approved. RCPI cannot also invoke the equality of treatment clause under Section 23 of Republic Act No. 7925. The franchises of the petitioners all expressly declare that the franchisee shall pay the real estate tax, using words similar to Section 14 of RA 2036, as amended.
It is an elementary rule in taxation that exemptions are strictly construed against the taxpayer and liberally in favor of the taxing authority. It is the taxpayer's duty to justify the exemption by words too plain to be mistaken and too categorical to be misinterpreted.
Exclusion of Depreciation Allowance
RCPI contends that the tax declarations and assessments covering its radio relay station tower, radio station building, and machinery shed are void because the assessors did not consider depreciation allowance in their assessments. The Court have examined the records of this case and found that RCPI raised before the LBAA and the CBAA the nullity of the assessments due to the non-inclusion of depreciation allowance. Therefore, RCPI did not raise this issue for the first time. However, even if the court considers this issue, under the Real Property Tax Code depreciation allowance applies only to machinery and not to real property.
The petition is denied and affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.
G.R. No. 144486. April 13, 2005
RADIO COMMUNICATIONS OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC. (RCPI), Petitioner,
vs.
PROVINCIAL ASSESOR OF SOUTH COTABATO, PROVINCIAL TREASURER OF SOUTH COTABATO, MUNICIPAL ASSESSOR OF TUPI, SOUTH COTABATO, and MUNICIPAL TREASURER OF TUPI, SOUTH COTABATO, Respondents.
Facts:
R.A. No. 2036 of 1957, as amended by R.A. No. 4054, granted RCPI a 50-year franchise. Thus, Sec. 14 of the amended law, in gist, provides that the grantee shall pay the same taxes as may be required by law. Said tax shall be in lieu of any and all taxes of any kind, nature or description levied, established or collected by any authority whatsoever, municipal, provincial or national, from which taxes the grantee is hereby expressly exempted.
On 10 June 1985, the municipal treasurer of Tupi, South Cotabato assessed RCPI real property taxes from 1981 to 1985. The municipal treasurer demanded that RCPI pay P166,810 as real property tax on its radio station building in Barangay Kablon, as well as on its machinery shed, radio relay station tower and its accessories, and generating sets, based on the following tax declarations.
RCPI protested the assessment before the Local Board of Assessment Appeals (LBAA') and claimed that all its assessed properties are personal properties and thus exempt from the real property tax. It also pointed out that its franchise exempts RCPI from 'paying any and all taxes of any kind, nature or description in exchange for its payment of tax equal to one and one-half per cent on all gross receipts from the business conducted under its franchise. It further claimed that any deviation from its franchise would violate the non-impairment of contract clause of the Constitution. Finally, RCPI stated that the value of the properties assessed has depreciated since their acquisition in the 1960s.
The Provincial Assessor of South Cotabato opposed RCPI's claims on all points.
The Local Board of Assessment Appeals ruled that appellant is ordered to pay the real property taxes, inclusive of all penalties, surcharges and interest accruing as of the date of actual payment, on the properties covered; in which the Central Board of Assessment Appeals affirmed.
The Appelate Court ruled that decision of the Central Board of Assessment Appeals is hereby MODIFIED. Petitioner is declared exempt from paying the real property taxes assessed upon its machinery and radio equipment mounted as accessories to its relay tower. The decision assessing taxes upon petitioner's radio station building, machinery shed, and relay station tower is, however, affirmed.
Issues:
1. Whether the appellate court erred when it excluded RCPI's tower, relay station building, and machinery shed from tax exemption; and
2. Whether the appellate court erred when it did not resolve the issue of nullity of the tax declarations and assessments due to non-inclusion of depreciation allowance.
Held:
Exemption from Real Property Tax
First, Congress passed the Local Government Code that withdrew all the tax exemptions existing at the time of its passage including that of RCPI's. Second, Congress enacted the franchise of telecommunications companies, such as Islacom, Bell, Island Country, IslaTel, TeleTech, Major Telecoms, and Smart, with the 'in lieu of all taxes' proviso. Third, Congress passed RA 7925 entitled 'An Act to Promote and Govern the Development of Philippine Telecommunications and the Delivery of Public Telecommunications Services' which, through Section 23, mandated the equality of treatment of service providers in the telecommunications industry.
The existing legislative policy is clearly against the revival of the 'in lieu of all taxes' clause in franchises of telecommunications companies. After the VAT on telecommunications companies took effect on January 1, 1996, Congress never again included the 'in lieu of all taxes' clause in any telecommunications franchise it subsequently approved. RCPI cannot also invoke the equality of treatment clause under Section 23 of Republic Act No. 7925. The franchises of the petitioners all expressly declare that the franchisee shall pay the real estate tax, using words similar to Section 14 of RA 2036, as amended.
It is an elementary rule in taxation that exemptions are strictly construed against the taxpayer and liberally in favor of the taxing authority. It is the taxpayer's duty to justify the exemption by words too plain to be mistaken and too categorical to be misinterpreted.
Exclusion of Depreciation Allowance
RCPI contends that the tax declarations and assessments covering its radio relay station tower, radio station building, and machinery shed are void because the assessors did not consider depreciation allowance in their assessments. The Court have examined the records of this case and found that RCPI raised before the LBAA and the CBAA the nullity of the assessments due to the non-inclusion of depreciation allowance. Therefore, RCPI did not raise this issue for the first time. However, even if the court considers this issue, under the Real Property Tax Code depreciation allowance applies only to machinery and not to real property.
The petition is denied and affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Syllabus in Anthropology 1
Copyright © 2011 by Chester B. Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.
ANTHROPOLOGY I
Introduction to Anthropology
MTWThF 5-7PM lecture PH 304
Summer, 2010-2011
Prof. Chester B. Cabalza
I. Course Description
This course aims to provide students with basic knowledge and appreciation of the discipline using anthropological perspectives. The course will give a general survey on the major sub-disciplines of anthropology i.e., biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archeology, and linguistic anthropology.
The content of this Course involves the study of the following subjects:
- Human Evolution, Primate Evolution, Early Hominids and Their Cultures, The Emergence of Homo Sapiens and their Cultures, Human Variation, The Emergence of Food Production and the Rise of States;
- Cultural Theories and Concepts, Archeology and Pre-history, Language and Culture, Economics and Social Stratification, Sex and Culture, Marriage and Family, Marital Residence and Kinship, Political Organization; and Religion and Magic, Civilizations and Globalization
- To identify explanatory frameworks that could lead to a deeper understanding of the cultural factors affecting current Philippine Culture and Asian Society;
- To enable the student to apply the concepts and ideas on a research problem mutually agreed upon by the student and teacher.
II. Course Objectives
Upon the completion of this Course, a student is expected to have:
- obtained a comprehension of the various theories, concepts and methods in Anthropology;
- acquired an appreciation and understanding of the variance of cultural factors influencing any society’s internal and external environment; and
- gained an insight into the role of Anthropology as discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings.
III. Course Requirements
Requirements:
Long Examination 30%
Class Exercises (Ethnography) 30%
Research Paper 20%
Reports 20%
IV. Course Outline
Week 1 (April 14-15, 2011)
1. Introduction: Scope, Coverage, and Expectations of the Course
2. Assignments:
- Read Part One: Introduction to Anthropology of Ember and Ember
- Read “Anthropology a Science? Statement Deepens a Rift by Nicholas Wade
3. Classroom Policies
A. Students are only allowed up to a maximum of three (3) unexcused absences. Beyond this number, students will be given a grade of DRP if his or her class standing is passing or 5.0 if failing.
B. Those who want to be excused from class must secure a certificate from the U.P Health Service or a letter from his/her Dean explaining the reason for the absence.
C. Students who arrive more than 20 minutes late will be marked absent for the day.
D. Turn off your mobile phones during class hours.
Week 2 (April 18-22, 2011)
1. Lecture on the Development of Anthropology in the Philippines
2. Lecture on Theories in Anthropology and Anthropological Approaches in Writing Ethnographies
3. Assignment:
- Ethnography 1: An Ethnography about the Lenten Season in the Philippines
- Read Part Two: Human Evolution (Biological and Cultural) by Ember and Ember
Week 3 (April 25-29, 2011)
1. Lecture on Evolution and Primate Evolution
2. Lecture on Early Hominids and Their Culture
3. Lecture on Philippine Prehistoric Society and Culture
4. Discussion of Ethnography 1 (Lenten Season)
5. Submission of Abstract of Term Paper
6. Assignment:
- Ethnography 2: An Ethnography on primate behaviors inside zoo
- Distribution of Reports
Week 4 (May 2-6, 2011)
1. Lecture on Cultural Variation
2. Lecture on Language and Culture, Economics and Social Stratification, and Sex and Culture, Medical and Legal Anthropology
3. Assignments:
- Ethnography 3: Baptismal, Marital, and Life Cycle
- Read Chapters on Marriage and Family, Political Organization by Ember and Ember
Week 5 (May 9-13, 2011)
1. Lecture on Marriage and Family and Political Organization
2. Lecture on Marriage in the Philippines (Cultural, Historical and Legal Implications; Actual Cases and Philippine Jurisprudence on Annulment, Declaration of Nullity of Marriage, and Legal Separation)
3. Discussion of Ethnography 3
4. Assignment:
- Ethnography 4: Spiritual Journey to various Religious Sites
- Read the last chapter on Religion and Magic by Ember and Ember
Week 15 (May 16-20, 2011)
1. Lecture on Religion and Magic
2. Lecture on Legal and Actual Cases Related to Religion in the Philippines
3. Discussion of Ethnography 4
4. Integration
May 20, 2011 - Final Examination
May 23, 2011 – Submission of Term Papers
- E N D -
ANTHROPOLOGY I
Introduction to Anthropology
MTWThF 5-7PM lecture PH 304
Summer, 2010-2011
Prof. Chester B. Cabalza
I. Course Description
This course aims to provide students with basic knowledge and appreciation of the discipline using anthropological perspectives. The course will give a general survey on the major sub-disciplines of anthropology i.e., biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archeology, and linguistic anthropology.
The content of this Course involves the study of the following subjects:
- Human Evolution, Primate Evolution, Early Hominids and Their Cultures, The Emergence of Homo Sapiens and their Cultures, Human Variation, The Emergence of Food Production and the Rise of States;
- Cultural Theories and Concepts, Archeology and Pre-history, Language and Culture, Economics and Social Stratification, Sex and Culture, Marriage and Family, Marital Residence and Kinship, Political Organization; and Religion and Magic, Civilizations and Globalization
- To identify explanatory frameworks that could lead to a deeper understanding of the cultural factors affecting current Philippine Culture and Asian Society;
- To enable the student to apply the concepts and ideas on a research problem mutually agreed upon by the student and teacher.
II. Course Objectives
Upon the completion of this Course, a student is expected to have:
- obtained a comprehension of the various theories, concepts and methods in Anthropology;
- acquired an appreciation and understanding of the variance of cultural factors influencing any society’s internal and external environment; and
- gained an insight into the role of Anthropology as discipline of infinite curiosity about human beings.
III. Course Requirements
Requirements:
Long Examination 30%
Class Exercises (Ethnography) 30%
Research Paper 20%
Reports 20%
IV. Course Outline
Week 1 (April 14-15, 2011)
1. Introduction: Scope, Coverage, and Expectations of the Course
2. Assignments:
- Read Part One: Introduction to Anthropology of Ember and Ember
- Read “Anthropology a Science? Statement Deepens a Rift by Nicholas Wade
3. Classroom Policies
A. Students are only allowed up to a maximum of three (3) unexcused absences. Beyond this number, students will be given a grade of DRP if his or her class standing is passing or 5.0 if failing.
B. Those who want to be excused from class must secure a certificate from the U.P Health Service or a letter from his/her Dean explaining the reason for the absence.
C. Students who arrive more than 20 minutes late will be marked absent for the day.
D. Turn off your mobile phones during class hours.
Week 2 (April 18-22, 2011)
1. Lecture on the Development of Anthropology in the Philippines
2. Lecture on Theories in Anthropology and Anthropological Approaches in Writing Ethnographies
3. Assignment:
- Ethnography 1: An Ethnography about the Lenten Season in the Philippines
- Read Part Two: Human Evolution (Biological and Cultural) by Ember and Ember
Week 3 (April 25-29, 2011)
1. Lecture on Evolution and Primate Evolution
2. Lecture on Early Hominids and Their Culture
3. Lecture on Philippine Prehistoric Society and Culture
4. Discussion of Ethnography 1 (Lenten Season)
5. Submission of Abstract of Term Paper
6. Assignment:
- Ethnography 2: An Ethnography on primate behaviors inside zoo
- Distribution of Reports
Week 4 (May 2-6, 2011)
1. Lecture on Cultural Variation
2. Lecture on Language and Culture, Economics and Social Stratification, and Sex and Culture, Medical and Legal Anthropology
3. Assignments:
- Ethnography 3: Baptismal, Marital, and Life Cycle
- Read Chapters on Marriage and Family, Political Organization by Ember and Ember
Week 5 (May 9-13, 2011)
1. Lecture on Marriage and Family and Political Organization
2. Lecture on Marriage in the Philippines (Cultural, Historical and Legal Implications; Actual Cases and Philippine Jurisprudence on Annulment, Declaration of Nullity of Marriage, and Legal Separation)
3. Discussion of Ethnography 3
4. Assignment:
- Ethnography 4: Spiritual Journey to various Religious Sites
- Read the last chapter on Religion and Magic by Ember and Ember
Week 15 (May 16-20, 2011)
1. Lecture on Religion and Magic
2. Lecture on Legal and Actual Cases Related to Religion in the Philippines
3. Discussion of Ethnography 4
4. Integration
May 20, 2011 - Final Examination
May 23, 2011 – Submission of Term Papers
- E N D -
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Virtual Ethnography 101: Born Free
(Source of Photo: google.com /en.wikipedia.com) This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography By Llenel de Castro
The Great Primate Search
After the assignment about observing our primate relatives was given, I immediately asked my friends if they knew someone with a pet monkey. One of my friends remembered a restaurant in Chinatown where the owners let their monkey greet their guests as they entered. Since I wanted to avoid going to the zoo, I agreed to meet up with my friend the following day to visit the monkey. However, when we got there, the guard told us that they have not seen the monkey for quite some time.
Primates Search Attempt 1: Oops. It was already dead
We walked to Arrangue market next to try our luck in the pet shops. When we got there, we asked one of the vendors if they sold monkeys. She told us that they sold small ones for Php 6,000 pesos. When we asked if we could see the monkeys, she explained that they did not bring the monkeys to the market anymore and that she would not show the monkeys to us unless we were really going to buy one.
Primate Search Attempt 2: Oops (I did it again)
It didn’t look like I was going to find my hanuman freely roaming around in the city so the next day, I decided to drag my parents along with me to Ark of Avilon. There we met Jenny, the tamest orangutan I have ever met. She looked tired probably because of the heat and the fact that she was still wearing pants and a shirt over the extreme amount of body hair she already had. There weren’t a lot of people there that day so we got to talk to her trainer, Kuya Deric, for quite some time. He told us about her diet (that wasn’t exclusive to bananas) and how he trained her by giving her chocolates and candies if she did something right.
Primate Search Attempt 3: Violá! The third time’s the charm (The Monkey Business!)
Truth be told, I did not enjoy my search for fellow primates in the city. What I thought would be just a simple assignment of staring at a chimp ended up being a depressing eye opener about the way that animals are being treated.
In Arranque market, the vendors knew that what they were doing wasn’t the most legal thing in the world. They looked at us skeptically as we asked about the monkey trade and they refused to tell us how much the medium sized monkeys cost. Their hostility may have stemmed from the fact that a few years ago, Arranque market was featured in a local news show because of the illegal animal trade that goes on there. In their exposé, the reporters recorded the transaction using a hidden camera so the vendors may have thought that they were doing the same thing too.
In Avilon, Jenny herself showed us how she felt. While she hugged and posed for the camera, you could feel how she was doing it mechanically. While it was nice to be hugged by an orangutan, you could feel that it was a routine for her. It felt almost like the entrance fee paid was the price you paid for her love and affection. She was not caged when we saw her but you could almost see the steel bars in her eyes.
The steel bars were exactly why I did not want to go to the zoo. As a child, whenever we would go to Subic, we would often see monkeys just playing on the side of the road. There amongst the trees in the virgin forest, they swung from branch to branch freely. They moved as if they were living. On a trip to Kenya a few years ago, a bunch of friendly primates ( I don’t remember now what they were but I think they were gorillas) climbed and went in our safari bus. While our driver wasn’t too pleased, the way that they just entered and claimed their territory sort of thrilled me. We were after all intruding in their home.
In Subic and Kenya, the primates are able to roam freely. Even though we continue to move dangerously close to them, they still have hundreds of hectares of savannas and forests to move around. Their behavior in the wild is so much different from their behavior in captivity. Even though our driver got mad at the gorilla, he didn’t abuse it. As he told the gorilla to go away, you could see how he treated the gorilla not as his subordinate but as his equal. He understood that these animals lived amongst and that they had the right to do so.
It is the andocentric view that we have to avoid. Just as we wouldn’t want to be displayed in the circus, our cousin primates aren’t comfortable living their lives wearing human clothes and hugging hundreds of children everyday. Just as we avoid breaking the law and being cooped up in prison, they don’t want to spend their lives living in cages. In trying to abolish slavery, we should think about fixing the monkey business, too. In the same way that we are taught to respect the culture of other groups, we should learn to respect theirs, too. Even though our fellow primates in the city live in captivity, we have to remember that we were all born free.
Virtual Ethnography 101: Into the Zoo
This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography By Seth Yao
Last Saturday, I went to Manila Zoo along with my three classmates. There, we were expecting to be able to observe primates. There, we did the chance to see the behavior of all sorts of monkeys; the problem was, though, that we were not able to watch any apes. There was supposed to be a chimpanzee in the zoo and I was looking forward to seeing it but, unfortunately, its cage was empty when we got there. To complete this ethnography, then, I decided to supplement my notes with academic information from myself and other sources.
While we were watching the different monkeys in the zoo, I noticed how they were so similar to humans, especially after seeing the other exhibits in the zoo that features all sorts of animals. I couldn’t help but think about how differently these simians would have lived if they had developed bipedalism. After all, we did not become humans because we suddenly gained intellect. No, it all started with walking on two legs; our intellect was just the same as those of apes when Lucy was trying to walk on two feet. The intelligence came after.
The monkey in the picture wearing diapers is living proof that just about all of the basic internal processes of all primates are the same as those of humans; the diaper was put on the monkey because just like human babies, its waste material is expelled from the same organs. The same foes for its hands, which it uses for grasping and eating; its ears, which pick up sounds along with the source of the sound; its eyes, which have the same properties as ours; and, of course, its sexual organs, which function the same way as ours do.
In addition to this, more similar to us than these monkeys are the apes. Like us, they have no tails, they normally live on the ground, and their reproductive cycles roughly last the same amount of time as ours do. Some of our similarities include our genes, social attitudes, capability to communicate with language, and even innovation with herbal medicine.
(Source of Photo: Cover The WFDC locus in the primate genome @ genome.cshlp.org) First, comparison between the chimpanzee and the human genome shows that 98.77% of DNA pairs of humans and chimpanzees are the same. However, there are an additional 1.23% differences between the two species in duplicated non-protein coding segments of DNA. Where we differ appears to be largely in the genes that control speech, smelling, hearing digesting proteins, and susceptibility to certain diseases. These minor differences are to be expected given that we have been on essentially separate evolutionary tracks for 6-7 million years, During that time, we have been subject to somewhat different natural selection pressures. These differences led to bipedalism for our ancestors along with much larger brain and ultimately, speech.
Second, apes and humans have similar social characteristics. Gorillas, humans and
chimpanzees kill members of their own species. The need for social and physical contact is also characteristic of most primates. Species that live in groups need to reconcile aggression. Social groups require some form of conflict resolution. Sexual behavior is one such mechanism to overwhelm aggression. Sexual activity among Bonobos, also know as pygmy chimpanzee, serves the function of reproduction as well as pleasure and conflict resolution; they don’t even have age and gender boundaries, sexual activity is common between two males or two females as much as it is between opposite sexes and this is common between individuals of any age. Moreover, like humans, they perform oral sex, genital massage, and intense tongue-kissing. (Source of Photo: frontal lobes (colored) in human and several non-human primate species @ nature.com)
Of course, human social life isn’t as dominated by sexual activity as these animals, though. For conflict resolution, humans use speech and language, although couples tend to have intimacy right after settling an argument in order to restore the sense of close companionship with each other.
(Source of Photo: Dr. Roger Fouts tries to teach American Sign Language to a chimp @ animals.howstuffworks.com) Third, in an experiment, five chimpanzees were taught the American Sign Language. Washoe, one of the chimpanzees, learned 132 signs from age one to age six and was even able to form novel combinations of these signs. In another experiment, two chimps were taught to communicate with lexigrams, symbols that represent words, on a symbol keyboard system (accompanied by special lighting on the keyboard, image projection and accompanying sounds to correspond to the symbols). Their success rate was 97% when the keyboard with lexigrams was available, but dropped to 10% with the keyboard turned off. This goes to show that just like humans, these apes have the capacity to learn language even if they aren’t physically capable of speech.
Finally, in a study conducted across equatorial Africa, sixteen plant species of possible medical use have been observed and identified to have been ingested by chimpanzees across equatorial Africa. This behavior has also been observed in the Bamboo and the eastern lowland gorilla. Further analysis showed that chimpanzees picked out leaves with short hairs in order to expel parasitic worms from their digestive tract. This worked by causing the worms to stick to the hairy surface of the leaf as they were defecated along with the leaf. These animals have also been found to ingest bitter leaves in order to rid themselves of parasite infections. They learn to do these things by learning from other members of the community that have experimented with these plant parts successfully.
In conclusion, I can say that primates, especially apes, have just about all of the potential of humans albeit in lesser degrees. We are not so different from each other genetically and physically. What really set us apart are things that cannot be seen in fossil findings and physical comparison; we are different in terms of our intellect and behavior. The species of homo sapiens don’t evolve as quickly as other animals because we are too geographically diverse and we use technology to adapt to our environment. This way, instead of having a select few mutant offspring surviving environmental pressure, most of the species survives and retains most of its original traits. Unlike us, though, the primates will have to adapt on their own through mutation and evolution and thus further differentiate from us.
Sources:
http://www.shvoong.com/exact-science/1759756-humans-apes-similarities-differences/
http://www.cs.unc.edu/-plaisted/ce/apes.html
http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_8.htm
http://soong.club.cc.cmu.edu/-julie/bonobos.html
http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/projects/ADW/
http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleo/primates.html
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chb/lectures/anthl_11.html
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography By Seth Yao
Last Saturday, I went to Manila Zoo along with my three classmates. There, we were expecting to be able to observe primates. There, we did the chance to see the behavior of all sorts of monkeys; the problem was, though, that we were not able to watch any apes. There was supposed to be a chimpanzee in the zoo and I was looking forward to seeing it but, unfortunately, its cage was empty when we got there. To complete this ethnography, then, I decided to supplement my notes with academic information from myself and other sources.
While we were watching the different monkeys in the zoo, I noticed how they were so similar to humans, especially after seeing the other exhibits in the zoo that features all sorts of animals. I couldn’t help but think about how differently these simians would have lived if they had developed bipedalism. After all, we did not become humans because we suddenly gained intellect. No, it all started with walking on two legs; our intellect was just the same as those of apes when Lucy was trying to walk on two feet. The intelligence came after.
The monkey in the picture wearing diapers is living proof that just about all of the basic internal processes of all primates are the same as those of humans; the diaper was put on the monkey because just like human babies, its waste material is expelled from the same organs. The same foes for its hands, which it uses for grasping and eating; its ears, which pick up sounds along with the source of the sound; its eyes, which have the same properties as ours; and, of course, its sexual organs, which function the same way as ours do.
In addition to this, more similar to us than these monkeys are the apes. Like us, they have no tails, they normally live on the ground, and their reproductive cycles roughly last the same amount of time as ours do. Some of our similarities include our genes, social attitudes, capability to communicate with language, and even innovation with herbal medicine.
(Source of Photo: Cover The WFDC locus in the primate genome @ genome.cshlp.org) First, comparison between the chimpanzee and the human genome shows that 98.77% of DNA pairs of humans and chimpanzees are the same. However, there are an additional 1.23% differences between the two species in duplicated non-protein coding segments of DNA. Where we differ appears to be largely in the genes that control speech, smelling, hearing digesting proteins, and susceptibility to certain diseases. These minor differences are to be expected given that we have been on essentially separate evolutionary tracks for 6-7 million years, During that time, we have been subject to somewhat different natural selection pressures. These differences led to bipedalism for our ancestors along with much larger brain and ultimately, speech.Second, apes and humans have similar social characteristics. Gorillas, humans and
chimpanzees kill members of their own species. The need for social and physical contact is also characteristic of most primates. Species that live in groups need to reconcile aggression. Social groups require some form of conflict resolution. Sexual behavior is one such mechanism to overwhelm aggression. Sexual activity among Bonobos, also know as pygmy chimpanzee, serves the function of reproduction as well as pleasure and conflict resolution; they don’t even have age and gender boundaries, sexual activity is common between two males or two females as much as it is between opposite sexes and this is common between individuals of any age. Moreover, like humans, they perform oral sex, genital massage, and intense tongue-kissing. (Source of Photo: frontal lobes (colored) in human and several non-human primate species @ nature.com)Of course, human social life isn’t as dominated by sexual activity as these animals, though. For conflict resolution, humans use speech and language, although couples tend to have intimacy right after settling an argument in order to restore the sense of close companionship with each other.
(Source of Photo: Dr. Roger Fouts tries to teach American Sign Language to a chimp @ animals.howstuffworks.com) Third, in an experiment, five chimpanzees were taught the American Sign Language. Washoe, one of the chimpanzees, learned 132 signs from age one to age six and was even able to form novel combinations of these signs. In another experiment, two chimps were taught to communicate with lexigrams, symbols that represent words, on a symbol keyboard system (accompanied by special lighting on the keyboard, image projection and accompanying sounds to correspond to the symbols). Their success rate was 97% when the keyboard with lexigrams was available, but dropped to 10% with the keyboard turned off. This goes to show that just like humans, these apes have the capacity to learn language even if they aren’t physically capable of speech. Finally, in a study conducted across equatorial Africa, sixteen plant species of possible medical use have been observed and identified to have been ingested by chimpanzees across equatorial Africa. This behavior has also been observed in the Bamboo and the eastern lowland gorilla. Further analysis showed that chimpanzees picked out leaves with short hairs in order to expel parasitic worms from their digestive tract. This worked by causing the worms to stick to the hairy surface of the leaf as they were defecated along with the leaf. These animals have also been found to ingest bitter leaves in order to rid themselves of parasite infections. They learn to do these things by learning from other members of the community that have experimented with these plant parts successfully.
In conclusion, I can say that primates, especially apes, have just about all of the potential of humans albeit in lesser degrees. We are not so different from each other genetically and physically. What really set us apart are things that cannot be seen in fossil findings and physical comparison; we are different in terms of our intellect and behavior. The species of homo sapiens don’t evolve as quickly as other animals because we are too geographically diverse and we use technology to adapt to our environment. This way, instead of having a select few mutant offspring surviving environmental pressure, most of the species survives and retains most of its original traits. Unlike us, though, the primates will have to adapt on their own through mutation and evolution and thus further differentiate from us.
Sources:
http://www.shvoong.com/exact-science/1759756-humans-apes-similarities-differences/
http://www.cs.unc.edu/-plaisted/ce/apes.html
http://anthro.palomar.edu/primate/prim_8.htm
http://soong.club.cc.cmu.edu/-julie/bonobos.html
http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/projects/ADW/
http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/paleo/primates.html
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/chb/lectures/anthl_11.html
Virtual Ethnography 101: My Manila Zoo Experience
This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography By Dyan Barrion
I went to Manila zoo with three of my classmates fro my Anthropology 1 class. To be honest, no matter how much I love to see animals, I never been in a zoo before. In my first year in college, I had attempted to go to Manila zoo. However, many of my blockmates said that I will just be disappointed if I go there since I won’t be seeing much anyway. And so last Friday, I finally got to go to Manila zoo.
Of course I expected the not so pleasant smell upon entering the zoo, after all it’s a zoo and many animals are living there. The first animal I saw upon entering the zoo is an elephant. It’s pretty cool for me to finally see a live elephant. Though that elephant for sure looked lonely since he is just alone in his huge territory. There were several horses and cows and even hippopotamus in the zoo. The hippo was probably sleeping since it was submerged in water and totally not moving. We then went to see the Philippines’ long-tailed monkeys. There were around 6-7 monkeys in the cage. They were playing with each other, I noticed that these monkeys were fond of playing with empty bottles of mineral water. At that moment, I started to wonder why their cages are not clean enough for these monkeys. I don’t think it’s conducive for animals to play with garbage.
Then we saw tigers. I have to admit I was elated to see big cats in action, though they behaved bored and inactive by the time we arrived before their cage. We saw tow other cages with a pair of tigers in them. Probably, it’s a male and a female in one cage. We continued exploring the zoo until re reached the cages of monkeys.
I saw one monkey trying to chew a peso coin. There were three other visitors in front of the cage but it looked like one of them threw another coin to the monkey. I got a bit irritated bout what they did. What if the monkey swallowed the coin? I thought better yet if they threw edible food instead of coins to the monkeys.
We went to see a Japanese red-faced monkey. There was a sign board with a
description of the monkey written on it. It says that this certain monkey is a very human-like creature, has red face, and has expressive eyes. I have to admit that this monkey though acted also like human. One of my classmates even got the chance to play a little bit of hide and seek with this monkey. But I think the monkey prefers to engage with less number of visitors. It was quite hard to snap shot a picture with the Japanese red-faced monkey. He’s smart enough to know when someone steals a picture taking with him. (Photo Source: http://www.google.com.ph/ manila zoo / & flicker.com).
After seeing the smart Japanese red-faced monkey, we decided to end the day and head home to start writing our ethnography. But we were stopped from leaving when we caught the sight of beautiful and colorful birds from the Kinder Zoo. At first, we are doubtful to enter since we had to pay a bigger price to enter this part of the zoo. But minutes after debating among ourselves whether or not to explore the Kinder zoo, finally we entered the avian kingdom and had dozens of pictures with trained birds and with some other trained animals.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography By Dyan Barrion
I went to Manila zoo with three of my classmates fro my Anthropology 1 class. To be honest, no matter how much I love to see animals, I never been in a zoo before. In my first year in college, I had attempted to go to Manila zoo. However, many of my blockmates said that I will just be disappointed if I go there since I won’t be seeing much anyway. And so last Friday, I finally got to go to Manila zoo.
Of course I expected the not so pleasant smell upon entering the zoo, after all it’s a zoo and many animals are living there. The first animal I saw upon entering the zoo is an elephant. It’s pretty cool for me to finally see a live elephant. Though that elephant for sure looked lonely since he is just alone in his huge territory. There were several horses and cows and even hippopotamus in the zoo. The hippo was probably sleeping since it was submerged in water and totally not moving. We then went to see the Philippines’ long-tailed monkeys. There were around 6-7 monkeys in the cage. They were playing with each other, I noticed that these monkeys were fond of playing with empty bottles of mineral water. At that moment, I started to wonder why their cages are not clean enough for these monkeys. I don’t think it’s conducive for animals to play with garbage.
Then we saw tigers. I have to admit I was elated to see big cats in action, though they behaved bored and inactive by the time we arrived before their cage. We saw tow other cages with a pair of tigers in them. Probably, it’s a male and a female in one cage. We continued exploring the zoo until re reached the cages of monkeys.
I saw one monkey trying to chew a peso coin. There were three other visitors in front of the cage but it looked like one of them threw another coin to the monkey. I got a bit irritated bout what they did. What if the monkey swallowed the coin? I thought better yet if they threw edible food instead of coins to the monkeys.
We went to see a Japanese red-faced monkey. There was a sign board with a
description of the monkey written on it. It says that this certain monkey is a very human-like creature, has red face, and has expressive eyes. I have to admit that this monkey though acted also like human. One of my classmates even got the chance to play a little bit of hide and seek with this monkey. But I think the monkey prefers to engage with less number of visitors. It was quite hard to snap shot a picture with the Japanese red-faced monkey. He’s smart enough to know when someone steals a picture taking with him. (Photo Source: http://www.google.com.ph/ manila zoo / & flicker.com).After seeing the smart Japanese red-faced monkey, we decided to end the day and head home to start writing our ethnography. But we were stopped from leaving when we caught the sight of beautiful and colorful birds from the Kinder Zoo. At first, we are doubtful to enter since we had to pay a bigger price to enter this part of the zoo. But minutes after debating among ourselves whether or not to explore the Kinder zoo, finally we entered the avian kingdom and had dozens of pictures with trained birds and with some other trained animals.
Virtual Ethnography 101: Two Stories of Lives in Captivity
This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography by Pink Celine Aparicio
Born in life full of joy are Bunso and Kingkong. In different worlds, they live. Bunso is with the human race while Kingkong belongs to the family of apes. Both, however, share a common denominator not only of origin but also in the course of life.
The Life of Bunso
Bunso is born in the slums. He and his family have no proper place to stay. They build their shelter, with all others, along the railway. Everyday seems to be a battle. His parents have to work to fins sustenance for the family’s daily consumption of goods and to feed him and his five other siblings.
Sadly, out of desperation and hopelessness, Lando, Bunso’s father, engulfed himself into vices such as alcohol and gambling that results to hurting his wife and children. He earns no money. He gets drunk as if it would be the answer to all his problems. “This is a filthy life! We will not be able to go anywhere else. Your children are born this way therefore you will die this way,” Lando always says.
Bunso’s mother, however, works to earn a penny or two but it is not enough. “Life is real hard. I have to survive for my children. I have work hard, but I do not know where to start,” she sobs.
Until one day, “My father is too desperate, my mother is all worn-out, and brother and sisters are starving,’ Bunso is pushed to steal. He, together with his other friends who are also in such tragic lives, break into a mini grocery store in attempt to sneak six cans of sardines for lunch.
“Your little children, what do you think are you doing? Out you go! Shoo! Never come back again or I will call the police,” the storekeeper shouts as he caught the juvenile kids in the act. For the reasons such unruliness, Lando put his son Bunso to jail.
Though still a minor, Bunso has been put in jail with adult inmates. In a situation like this, how would Bunso survive the captivity?
The Life of KingKong
On the other side of the globe is KingKong. Unlike Bunso, she is with her happy family. Her parents work and find food for her and her siblings. In spite of this, like Bunso, Kingkong and her family have no permanent place to stay. They live in a jungle, facing survival of the fittest with poachers and hunters who may catch and sell them in black market.
“Let us stay together and fight for each other. We must fight the enemies when they arrive,” father Kong said to his band of apes.
Wretchedly, the most unwanted time came. Kingkong had been taken away from her family.
She now lives in a small cage in a zoo.
Compared Lives
In both situations like this, how would Bunso and Kingkong survive their harsh conditions?
Although, both of them live in distinct penitentiary – Bunso under the social welfare while Kingkong in a cage at the zoo. Would they still be happy in captivity?
Photo Source:
http://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=tl&biw=1280&bih=807&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=photo+of+baby+kingkong+in+captivity&oq=photo+of+baby+kingkong+in+captivity&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1330081l1335179l0l26l26l0l23l23l0l496l1291l3-1.2
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
Ethnography by Pink Celine Aparicio
Born in life full of joy are Bunso and Kingkong. In different worlds, they live. Bunso is with the human race while Kingkong belongs to the family of apes. Both, however, share a common denominator not only of origin but also in the course of life.
The Life of Bunso
Bunso is born in the slums. He and his family have no proper place to stay. They build their shelter, with all others, along the railway. Everyday seems to be a battle. His parents have to work to fins sustenance for the family’s daily consumption of goods and to feed him and his five other siblings.
Sadly, out of desperation and hopelessness, Lando, Bunso’s father, engulfed himself into vices such as alcohol and gambling that results to hurting his wife and children. He earns no money. He gets drunk as if it would be the answer to all his problems. “This is a filthy life! We will not be able to go anywhere else. Your children are born this way therefore you will die this way,” Lando always says.
Bunso’s mother, however, works to earn a penny or two but it is not enough. “Life is real hard. I have to survive for my children. I have work hard, but I do not know where to start,” she sobs.
Until one day, “My father is too desperate, my mother is all worn-out, and brother and sisters are starving,’ Bunso is pushed to steal. He, together with his other friends who are also in such tragic lives, break into a mini grocery store in attempt to sneak six cans of sardines for lunch.
“Your little children, what do you think are you doing? Out you go! Shoo! Never come back again or I will call the police,” the storekeeper shouts as he caught the juvenile kids in the act. For the reasons such unruliness, Lando put his son Bunso to jail.
Though still a minor, Bunso has been put in jail with adult inmates. In a situation like this, how would Bunso survive the captivity?
The Life of KingKong
On the other side of the globe is KingKong. Unlike Bunso, she is with her happy family. Her parents work and find food for her and her siblings. In spite of this, like Bunso, Kingkong and her family have no permanent place to stay. They live in a jungle, facing survival of the fittest with poachers and hunters who may catch and sell them in black market.“Let us stay together and fight for each other. We must fight the enemies when they arrive,” father Kong said to his band of apes.
Wretchedly, the most unwanted time came. Kingkong had been taken away from her family.
She now lives in a small cage in a zoo.
Compared Lives
In both situations like this, how would Bunso and Kingkong survive their harsh conditions?
Although, both of them live in distinct penitentiary – Bunso under the social welfare while Kingkong in a cage at the zoo. Would they still be happy in captivity?
Photo Source:
http://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=tl&biw=1280&bih=807&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=photo+of+baby+kingkong+in+captivity&oq=photo+of+baby+kingkong+in+captivity&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=1330081l1335179l0l26l26l0l23l23l0l496l1291l3-1.2
Virtual Ethnography 101: OMG! Planet of the Apes!
This summer I asked my college students in Anthropology 1, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom - to explore places, experience cultural happenings, and then apply their learning through writing ethnographic accounts using the method of participation-observation.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
(Photo Source: http://www.google.com.ph/planet of the apes)
Ethnography By Gabriela Daguman
Wild monkeys in the net
As a student of Social Anthropology in the University of the Philippines Baguio and now cross-registered and enrolled this summer in UP Diliman for my Anthropology 1 subject; I recalled that in some of my subjects in Anthropology, I had to study the behaviors of primates in one of my required courses. With this, me and my classmates all scoured the internet and looked into every website we could find that discuss the characteristics and behaviors of these species in the mammalian kingdom. From anatomical descriptions of their arms and legs, hands and feet, to their head size and communal social behaviors – we discussed it all in the classroom. In order for our report to come to life, we used video footages of various primates in the wild. Our report emphasized primates’ arboreal abilities and their hunting-gathering skills. In the film footage, we saw parent apes cared for their baby apes and how protective they are to the offspring.
Commonalities on primate behaviors show their survival skills, food gathering techniques, emotional state, and defense system that were as innate as we are as human species. Some apes are fierce and tough, others are caring and affectionate. They act as if they are not far from how humans behave – including their communal living and expression of love.
Habituated monkeys in the wild
Last Saturday, I went to Manila zoo with some classmates to observe primate behaviors. I took this opportunity not only to see the zoo again, which hadn’t done in years. When we got there in the afternoon, we noticed that there were fewer animals than before, aside form that, there were only two or three kinds of monkeys. I got a little disappointed. How in the world am I going to write an ethnography on ‘primates’ if I am only provided with few monkeys to observe. But as they say, it’s what you make of what you got.
One thing that I distinctly notice in the zoo, all animals are caged and habituated in a noisy, crowded, and odorous zoo. Some animals are bored and malnourished. Others simply smile from splashes of cameras, entertaining visitors to see them.
I compared my actual sighting of animals and monkeys to the video footage I watched in web before – there seem to be differences in their behaviors and living conditions.
Tamed monkey in my arms
Our last stop in the zoo was to see trained animals like birds, alligators, snakes, and monkeys entertain visitors. There are clear differences between trained animals and ordinary animals inside the cage. The monkey was so calm and behaved. He didn’t jump around, nor run away. In my arms, I carried him like a baby, but lighter than a fidgety child. He had even worn a diaper around his waist.
Oh the Monkey Groups (OMG)
I documented three scenarios of primate behaviors. In this ethnography, I learned that their environment can also determine the behaviors of primates and other animals. It is manifested when you pay closer attention to them. But at the end of the day, I discovered that primates and humans may have similarities on how we behave and externalize our emotions.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtually ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on various ethnographic accounts.
(Photo Source: http://www.google.com.ph/planet of the apes) Ethnography By Gabriela Daguman
Wild monkeys in the net
As a student of Social Anthropology in the University of the Philippines Baguio and now cross-registered and enrolled this summer in UP Diliman for my Anthropology 1 subject; I recalled that in some of my subjects in Anthropology, I had to study the behaviors of primates in one of my required courses. With this, me and my classmates all scoured the internet and looked into every website we could find that discuss the characteristics and behaviors of these species in the mammalian kingdom. From anatomical descriptions of their arms and legs, hands and feet, to their head size and communal social behaviors – we discussed it all in the classroom. In order for our report to come to life, we used video footages of various primates in the wild. Our report emphasized primates’ arboreal abilities and their hunting-gathering skills. In the film footage, we saw parent apes cared for their baby apes and how protective they are to the offspring.
Commonalities on primate behaviors show their survival skills, food gathering techniques, emotional state, and defense system that were as innate as we are as human species. Some apes are fierce and tough, others are caring and affectionate. They act as if they are not far from how humans behave – including their communal living and expression of love.
Habituated monkeys in the wild
Last Saturday, I went to Manila zoo with some classmates to observe primate behaviors. I took this opportunity not only to see the zoo again, which hadn’t done in years. When we got there in the afternoon, we noticed that there were fewer animals than before, aside form that, there were only two or three kinds of monkeys. I got a little disappointed. How in the world am I going to write an ethnography on ‘primates’ if I am only provided with few monkeys to observe. But as they say, it’s what you make of what you got.
One thing that I distinctly notice in the zoo, all animals are caged and habituated in a noisy, crowded, and odorous zoo. Some animals are bored and malnourished. Others simply smile from splashes of cameras, entertaining visitors to see them.
I compared my actual sighting of animals and monkeys to the video footage I watched in web before – there seem to be differences in their behaviors and living conditions.
Tamed monkey in my arms
Our last stop in the zoo was to see trained animals like birds, alligators, snakes, and monkeys entertain visitors. There are clear differences between trained animals and ordinary animals inside the cage. The monkey was so calm and behaved. He didn’t jump around, nor run away. In my arms, I carried him like a baby, but lighter than a fidgety child. He had even worn a diaper around his waist.
Oh the Monkey Groups (OMG)
I documented three scenarios of primate behaviors. In this ethnography, I learned that their environment can also determine the behaviors of primates and other animals. It is manifested when you pay closer attention to them. But at the end of the day, I discovered that primates and humans may have similarities on how we behave and externalize our emotions.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The Shipyard (Fiction by Chester Cabalza)
“IMAGINE HOW MANY GALLEONS ducked in this site, do you?” the chief archaeologist asks his wife after he wore his mini telescope that could peek the farthest sight and where bluish seascape laps with clouds like aphids.
He traverses the beach resort at the Golden Black Seaport in Appari, thinking some great galleons drowned in the seabed and its treasures untouched by the fishermen and local divers. That was almost five hundred years ago but until now some locals confirmed none of the treasures below had neither been recovered nor stolen for the past decades. As a prime archaeologist, Charles is commissioned by the National Museum after his controversial discovery of the ancient bones and the brick kiln in Liwan Valley. In his new mission, the now famed archaeologist, exuding a bright aura, will carve another history in the making to unearth treasures of the lost Dutch galleon.
The Golden Black Seaport is indeed an archaeological site. A known resort and storage of great legends and artifacts. Some says that it was an erstwhile metal smelting archaeological site during the Manila-Acapulco trade. The vast property maybe a shipyard for ship fastenings in the past.
Charles spots an abrupt change in his domain; not by its geomorphology, but because a dangerous, threatening living specimen steps in his property. The barangay captain broaches him to Darwin – a young yet aloof balikbayan anthropologist from University of Arizona. The wannabe protégé has debunked contentious discoveries of his uncle Charles in either academic journals or international forums as both untrue and hoaxes, and later to claim honor and prestige in the academe. He even maligns the older Indiana Jones’ credibility in front of his imported team.
The noon roofs the archeological site as the sun ascends and reaches its strategic throne. Charles stops his workers from clearing wild grasses, cogon and bamboos. He heads straight to the site laboratory where his wife Minerva and research assistant Bridgett stay for lunch.
He freaks out!
The seasoned archeologist amoks with immense frustration with Darwin’s sudden unfriendly visit to the site. He cuts into pieces the alidade mapping, although the ladies were used to his temper, and then they just scorn him.
“What’s your freaking problem, Charles?” Minerva inquires but he remains rough with himself.
He knows that his nephew would become his top rival in the project. He cautions the ladies inside the room to stay away from him.
“He’s a big threat to us!”
“What made you think of that, sir?” Bridget asks him.
“I just know it. I can’t explain! He has all the keys and secrets,” he says while chasing hardly his breath.
“Let me see,” his wife thinks, “it’s better if we hire a local historian, maybe this could help us…” Minerva suggests while chewing a spoon of rice.
“No!” he adamantly replies.
The night entangles the surrounding. Sea waves harmoniously blend with the strong wind dancing with sundry trees and its million foliages. Lola Juana, a native narrator and one of the fine storytellers arrives at the laboratory. She engages herself with intimate stories about the place to the ladies. Although, that time Charles retires early and refuses meeting the old oracle. Out of the blue, he changes his mind when his wife admonishes that she would not sleep beside him unless he will talk to the chronicler.
“Good evening, sir!” she utters in her sore voice.
“What can I do for you?” he asks.
Minerva starts explaining, by her suggestion that noon to hire a local historian, and so, able to convince the old woman to come. Lola Juana is articulate as ever as enchanting, possesses a surprising youthful charm then reiterates her story when seven Moro pirates attacked a Spanish galleon in the old port near the resort. In her story, the ruling Spaniards defeated the pirates. It was a bloody fight. Many foreigners died. Blood spilled to the sea. Local residents got scared when Moro virtas frequented the horizon. As a result, inhabitants abandoned the village and chose to settle in Allacapan.
“In what place?” Charles catches her saying while holding tightly his cup of coffee. His drug every time he appears haggard.
“The creepy town!” she reiterates.
“Do you know about the map?” the archeologist asks boldly.
She looks abysmal and pauses after his inquiry. He psyches then scrutinizes every detail of her words; her expressions and thoughts. Startlingly the beautiful storyteller perspires heavily, as if she sits in the inquisition, and wipes her sweats with black handkerchief. That proves his prejudged impression that she might be one of the witches in the small town based from the local historian’s facade.
“Don Vargas!” she hastily utters, “Sir...I really have to go now…” she appears so clumsy. She stands up nervously and strides toward the closed tent door. Meanwhile Minerva requests the two other scientists to accompany her at the bank after that she paddles quickly her boat.
The full moon shines so enthralling that its light has illuminated the shores of the famed seaport. During the anchovy season from November to March, fishing boats and outfits operating nets, the largest of the local outfits cease to work, and their absence marks the “low season” as typified by a retreating flow of fish.
Midnight enclosed the place yet both of them could not sleep. Perhaps baffled of the accounts told by the local historian. Suddenly he froze by the cold wind, prompted from the shore. He wrapped doubly his body with coat and blanket. As he turned to her, he smacked his wife a stolen kiss before sleeping, and suddenly, she pushed him away and wept.
“You shouldn’t have asked about the map!” her voice quaked.
“What are you talking about my lovely wife,” he snorted haughtily, “next time when you get a squealer, make sure she is credible,” as he embraced her, “common, let’s sleep now. You promised!”
“Shut up! What if she’s telling the truth?” she murmured.
“Show me the evidence! Simple as that,” he reasoned out.
The next sunny day, Darwin commanded his workers and built the grid system located near the pond.
“Geomorphology…” he conversed with his workers, “…this site is prone to flood. This is a stream delta surrounded by mangrove under the brackish swampy to marshy environment,” thus referred to the area, “adjust it to S7 E25 and move to the east, instead change it to S7 E26,” he taught his team, measured the grid before laying it out with strings and stakes.
“Stop!” warned his Uncle Charles, “you don’t have a permit from the National Museum to excavate!”
Darwin did not listen to his livid, fuming Uncle Charles and persevered in his task. Immense wrath invaded the archeologist’s nerves. He even neared him and blocked the presumptuous dilettante anthropologist. But tactful, as a result, in Darwin’s haste displeasure to his rival excavator, he haughtily showed the permit in front his uncle’s two stuffed eyes.
“This is a lesson for you, Uncle Charles!” Darwin ridiculed him.
But Charles stared minutely at him and then turned his back. Late in the afternoon, the thwarted archaeologist sat so anguished at the beach and threw pebbles and dead shells back to the sea. Excitedly, he sighted dolphins which had consequently uplifted his drive. It was a therapeutic view for him. Those marvelous sea mammals passed the luminous sea; chased by a motorized boat that ferried French and Taiwanese tourists and a local folk. They crusaded its path and photographed. Tourists and fishermen always got excited of that tame underwater species. As he watched them, his mind wandered mysteriously - the sun quickly vanished into the twilight then it settled at its cot, clouds moved fast forward and transformed from orange to gray, the stars and moonlight glowed extremely then planets revolved in three dimensional positions, tsunamis and tidal waves flooded his face, drowned him together with a vast galleon. All of the things he saw, including him had been drowned by a corpulent shark. His vista turned so surreal.
“Remove it!” he pulled out the fingers covering his eyes. Immediately he recovered his consciousness but saw everything around him back to normal. The sleepy sun was descending from its throne and boats strolled the waves of a dazzling seascape.
“Sorry, lonely boy,” equipped Bridget and took out her fingers from his weary eyes. She appeared horny in her bathing suit and jumped off the big waves.
“No!” he shouted at them. “Don’t swim!” he cautioned after a strain in his bizarre daydreaming.
“Why sir?” responded loudly by his associates, already half-naked and guys chased the lone babe in the cold waves. They swam gaily. They braved each other and swam farther away from the shoreline. Charles stammered at the coastline. He quickly returned to the laboratory. As he passed the site, Darwin’s team had already dug deeply, about two hundred meters from the LDP at quadrant one and one hundred fifty meters at quadrant two. They exposed a strange stone formation. Some of them wondered that it might lead to the hidden treasures but the budding anthropologist was still secretive about it. Then, he intentionally roofed his prized artifacts with pages of newspapers from the eyes of his archrival.
“This is espionage!” he alleged to his men while his uncle passed by their square.
Charles arrived enraged at the villa. His wife gladly saluted him in great ecstasy especially that she could already present proofs to him about the tales of her informant that she indeed was telling the truth based from historical literatures of the town. Hastily, she showed some books but frustrated by her husband’s vacillating feeling.
“We could not make it. I’m totally lost!” he consulted her, “he has the map!”
“Who? Your evil nephew? Don’t lose hope, darling? We have one more alas,” she fortified his ego. She believed that his husband’s strength would rebound after he read the notes she jotted.
He rested on his favorite chair. It comforted his back. Then, she took off his shoes and odorous socks. Sit back and relax. While he read those thick ethnographies and notes his wife shown to him about the shipyard, suddenly, it pasted him an envious smile. It certainly shimmered his odd feeling. He fell to sleep but waves of noises disturbed and drove him mad. As he stood and peeked at the window, he went out, and sternly summoned his staff by his irate voice.
“What the heck you’re shouting about?” bellowed Charles. Minerva was surprised too. The group of swimmers neared him. Still, their bodies soaked with salt water and handed down a beautiful unbroken kendi or a pouring vessel.
“We found it beneath the sea of only ten feet deep,” narrated Bridgett.
“Bring it to the laboratory,” he commanded his researchers, “and you lady, put on your clothes,” he looked at her with discontentment, “we got work to do now!”
Immediately, his fervor ingenuity and skills had flourished, challenged by the existence of that miniature kendi. He sensed it would give him a lead. It seemed his instinct had rejuvenated and his renewed zest had unfolded his mission in unveiling the kendi’s mystery. Perhaps, a key to the lost Dutch galleon he had been searching for many decades. As he entered the laboratory, he walked silently to the computer and analyzed a graphic matrix. The battle between two galleons under Spanish Lt. Gov. Gen. Antonio de Morga and Dutch Admiral Oliver Van Noort off Batangas on sixteen hundred. A first marine battle between two European powers to attain glory. Spain versus Netherlands. Unfortunately, it defeated Spain’s San Diego, also known as San Antonio. It carried bountiful relics, though. In fact, that fateful event pioneered the underwater archaeology in the archipelago.
“Bring to me the kendi. What’s the date?” he asked the stunning tall Bridgett.
“Almost five hundred years old,” she replied.
“Okay! Come to think of it! Did westerners show interest in Chinese things?”
“Of course!” glided Minerva while he attentively eavesdropping to him.
“First thing first. Let’s study the trading route of the galleons,” he drilled his team.
“But sir, this place is a shipbuilding site during the Spanish regime!” Bridget echoed, “Naturally, galleons did come in this place, right?” she stretched her point.
“Perhaps one of the many uncovered sites, “ Charles quickly added.
“So, the great archaeologist did found his momentum!” Darwin suddenly intruded around the busy team, “Well, that’s certainly good news. Now we have the same score, uncle. I also found a Dutch wine bottle, probably in the same period as that of your kendi.”
“What are you doing here?” Charles asked fiercely.
“Just adding information,” his infuriating words, “I challenge you uncle, whoever gets the first grand lead will get the recognition…” he smirked sheepishly at him, as if not afraid of the big fish.
“I certainly take the challenge!” he stated very strongly.
Charles’ team noticed that the terrain had silty clay loam with grayish color closer to black containing bountiful organic materials, eco-facts, and artifacts like brick tiles, pot fragments, mirrors, fragment of glasses, shells and corals of recent time. After the exhausting excavation, both teams finished their ordinary day with no extraordinary discoveries. But Darwin’s team, still pompous of their stone formations. Headway to new, stronger links to the treasures of the lost Dutch galleon. In no haste, Charles could not resist with enormous evidences on slag and fuel, metals and iron, proving smelting was one of the major activities undertaken in the coast before; backed up with oral and archaeological evidences. It surely showed that shipbuilding industry thrived in the newest hub.
Later that chilly night, the prime archeologist’s team worked overtime. They brainstormed. Talked about updated theoretical frameworks in doing the excavation in saving portions of the site for the next generation archaeologists who may have equipped with high-tech gadgets. Archaeology may sometimes mean destruction. They drunk cold beers while softly discussed of where to search the real map. Though at the back of his mind, he was convinced that his nephew did not have the authentic map, by reason that up to that moment he fretted his lead. Obsessively he observed the kendi. He reviewed it as one of the many artifacts retrieved from the Spanish navio (merchant ship) of San Antonio, off Fortune Islands. Startlingly, his wife appeared to them. With her wizardry of the subject, she presented the route of the Dutch armada Mauritius, thinking it would help him in his quest of the map. Then, they all headed in front the IBM computer.
“Look at this perspective,” she took a big breath while holding closely the mouse.
“Noort left Holland in fifteen ninety-seven with two hundred forty-eight men and four ships,” pointed the jpeg picture to her husband, “Passing Strait off Magellan, he attacked shipping on the west coast of South America, raided Valparaiso in Chile and directly sailed to the Philippines.”
“Then what happened?” he asked more questions.
“He landed first near Capul Island just inside the Strait of San Bernardino,” she pointed the map, “and then by some circumstances, he might had passed Cagayan,” she looked at him, still thinking deeply.
“Interesting!” Bridget claimed.
“For sure we are not looking for Mauritius,” he cautioned them, “that theory may be true, but what we are searching are other Dutch galleons who may have the same path as that of victorious Mauritius...”
“Exactly!” his wife retorted.
THAT VERY same evening, the local historian bothered again the couple. But then, he affably conversed at her inside his well-lit laboratory. He listened conscientiously to her. He thought she could be a credible source ready to help him in his mission.
“I heard the last word you mentioned before was Don Miguel Vargas, right? That’s the father of my grandfather” he recapped.
“Yes, sir,” she nodded.
“Why you mentioned his name?” he asked her while playing his hands, “are you saying then that he...you know...that Vargas let’s say has connection to the treasures of the lost Dutch galleon?”
“A galleon? There were also mini-galleons,” she corrected him, “mini-galleons were built here,” she told him.
“Honey,” Minerva interrupted him, “I think she’s right. She must have a better clue,” she then concluded.
“Continue please madam,” he courteously uttered and addressed the guest with some respect, “and the old town you’re referring? What is the relation of all these – Don Vargas and the mini-galleons?” putting into sequence the facts.
“Very important!”
“What about?” he mellowed his temper.
“Go to Daan-Ili in Allacapan and you will meet Ildandencio. I will ask my grandson Puto to meet you at the riverbank, beside the market, early in the morning. He knows about the map. Just tell the codename, Biuag and Malana. Remember, follow the river,” her firm instruction.
“Biuag and Malana?” he snooped, “you mean the local epic heroes?”
“Do it quickly! There’s no time left…”
“Why?” his last query.
“I really have to go now,” and she hurriedly walked off.
“Daan-Ili? No, don’t go there, honey! Please, listen to me!” she hysterically cautioned him as her eyes struck with fear.
“Call them all!” he commanded his wife, “I need to talk to them!” in his trademark furious words, walloped inside the laboratory.
His whole staff was already asleep when they gathered in front of him. Bridgett was in her pajamas and her face polished with cream. Charles instructed each one of his men and women. He gave them special missions especially Bridgett to head a team to the old, creepy town by land.
“I don’t wanna go to that old town! They say it’s dangerous out there! Assign me another work, please!” Bridgett grumbled girlishly.
“I will head the team,” Minerva unwaveringly volunteered.
“Not in your condition. You will stay here. Guard our plots in the site!” he said to her.
“No!” Glenda protested.
“Mark my word!” he insisted.
“Hell! I hate it! I don’t like adventures!” Bridgett muttered. She frowned as she returned to her room.
“You’ll love it soon – it’s like the Callao Caves adventure, babe!” Charles wheedled her.
The sun had not yet risen when Charles met Puto at the riverbank. They navigated the trail of the long Cagayan River. Bridgett headed the all boys team to Daan-Ili, known to be a garrison during the Japanese invasion and cradle of fierce Huks after the liberation. It maybe the road was narrow and rough that caused the Nissan highlander to wiggle but they reached the far-off place safely. Even before the sudden expedition, sages of the town had been discouraging visitors to reach the so-called ghost town.
At the campsite Minerva guarded the tent, disturbed by the unceasing barking of dogs. Her eyes, so keen enough to her surrounding. She hid behind the half closed tent to sneak a quick look at the passersby. Darwin’s team hobbled at the camp and carried scuba gears with them, she suddenly suspected something terrible, and perhaps the rival team might have an option. She felt skeptic of my son’s team, thinking they might have found the authentic map. When she peeked at them, for the second time, all of the diggers grandiosely wear scuba gears, and attentively listened to Darwin.
Finally, Charles and his team met at the ‘old creepy town’. More than anything else, the place was as lovely as its orchards and gardens. Amazed eyes towed to the kaleidoscopic sceneries of mountains and river, deceived by people who claimed the place as an ugly town. The heritage Spanish villas, cemeteries, and its baroque church were still preserved.
“Never been to Oz!” Charles proclaimed upon stepping the town.
As he surfaced from the boat, Puto stayed behind. He walked freely, but not tensed. His paces tracked by his anxious team but saw people living quietly in the enamored town. And later they bumped estrange camouflaged men behind an impressive Spanish villa. The haunted-like villa silently opened its door and they hauled in sudden jolt. They were frightened to enter the house and chirped like noisy children.
“Silence!” Charles shouted, “I will go first...” and climbed up the stairs.
“Codename!” says a voice, perhaps from the guard he deemed.
“Biuag and Malana,” he replied fretfully.
The door opened. Bridget and the guys climbed up also the stairs. They entered half-heartedly but as soon as they were inside, the guards shut the huge door, and a platoon showed up. A wise bearded hermit sat at the nucleus of the archaic room, surrounded by his feisty guards.
Then, the archaeologist spoke gently, “You must be Ildandecio,” and he told about the map.
“Many have tried to come into this place thinking they would get the map,” the wise man had spoken, “but they failed!” he said in his stern admonition.
“What would you do once you have searched the treasures?” he asked.
“The country owns the treasures,” Charles in his bold utterance, “it is better to bring back to where it truly belonged!”
The wise man agreed and said, “Don’t forget to give a piece of that treasure to this town so that children here will remember that once, this town became part of our history.”
“I will build a museum in this town, maybe soon...” he replied.
“Where’s the map?” Charles turned so impatient.
“You already had it?” he bluffed, “you already found it Charles, do you?” the wise man beamed.
“No. I still don’t have.”
“Go home and you will see it. Go!” the wise man uttered his final say.
As he woke up that day, his joints and bones were aching, as if he had traveled so far and toiled so hard from the excavation, but as he tried to recall, he had never accomplished a heavyweight task since day one of his project. He moved to the laboratory and asked his wife if the local historian returned last night, hastily she confirmed, the sage was frightened to return, perhaps afraid of him. He felt confused. Abruptly, his scientific illustrator ran to him. He reported that Darwin’s team had begun undertaking a preliminary underwater mapping at the nearby coast. Sudden loath subdued his sanity. Immediately, Minerva prepared his coffee. As soon as Bridget entered the laboratory, fresh from bath, she went straight to dating artifacts. He looked at her. And then inquired her if she recalled a trip to the old town of Daan-Ili. Yet she responded that she had never been to the creepy town. He turned so paranoid, perhaps paranoid of his dream. He was thinking where he bore the codename Biuag and Malana? Out of nowhere. Then, the seasoned archaeologist turned his neck, stretched it with simple calisthenics. But when he came to face the kendi, suddenly the stunning scientist astounded also at the relic, as she sealed it with a plaster of Paris for restoration, words of the wise man in his dream rewind so fast, and in a haste circumstance, the kendi fell from her hands.
“Oh no!” she screamed, “I broke it!”
Charles ran. He glimpsed at the broken relic.
“It’s okay,” he said as she shriveled on his shoulder. As he looked down, he saw a crumpled map that suggested its oldness.
“Goodness! It’s a…” he deceased to name it. His men neared them; shocked of what was inside the broken kendi.
“Thanks my genie!” Charles excitedly declared, “don’t tell to anyone about this!”
But suddenly, an elderly man in patchwork attire entered the tent and searched the chief archeologist. When he turned his happy eyes to the guest, unexpectedly, he recalled a face similar in his madcap dream. He surely knew he already met him - somewhere.
“I am Ildandencio,” the man identified himself.
Charles still mystified. He scrutinized his hermit-like face. And then, he felt a bit scared as soon as he realized his dream was coming into reality.
“I could help you in your quest!” said Ildandencio.
“How?” the archeologist asserted.
“Sir, I heard about your search of the Dutch galleon. I dreamed of you many nights with the kendi,” his face bewailed trying to convince him, “that broken object came from me. Yesterday I was in the boat. I was with some tourists and I dropped it in the sea, so your men would retrieve it. I wanted to personally give it to you but I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me…so…” he punned.
“Where did it come from?” he asked him.
“My grandparents gave it to me. It was a gift of great Don Vargas to them, after saving his life from the pirates” he stressed, “the kendi was popularly known here as Biuag and Malana,” he narrated.
Charles eavesdropped attentively, though he had still queries in mind. The strange man also recounted that pirates had stolen the kendi. The kendi, in fact, turned to be a mythical object. Believed that whoever held it would become immortal. So, there was a massive search for the antique. When it was found by a group of treasure hunters in Babuyan Island from the pirates’ wrecked vista, drowned by raging sea, unluckily they died in an ambush in Happy Valley. Many decades passed when Ildandencio’s kindred found it from the communist’s camp, after a bloody retaliation of the marines in Marrag Valley.
Actually, numerous Chinese porcelains and kendis had been bartered with Dutch explorers for food and wine. But Spaniards and Dutch always fought in the high seas and a number of Dutch Galleons were drowned and for centuries, it rested on the waterbed.
THE EXPEDITION was a grandiose event. It took several months to muster experts and workers in the waterworld site. They had recovered bounty of relics and treasures of the biggest Dutch Galleon, wrecked beneath the waters of Golden Black Resort in Happy Valley. Charles led his thirty-eight-man team combined with Darwin’s dozen-man team, and some elite associates of the Underwater Archeology Division of the National Museum. It composed of professional divers trained in France, having diplomas at International Certificate of Scientific Research Diving, documenters, photographers, scientific illustrators, and technicians. They toiled impressively. Under the sea, a three hundred-meter long suction tube, and deep tow nuclear magnetic resonance magnetometers and recording equipment, imported from the U.S. and Europe helped them saved its hidden treasures. Ten professional divers including Charles and Darwin dived the cold water initially for transects. Indeed, layers of sands and tons of rocks on the seabed had tremendously sheltered the ship and its priceless artifacts.
“Do you hear me? Copy! Copy!” said Charles submerged two hundred fifty-nine meters feet like a merman in his scuba-diving gear, as he deciphered and transmitted codes to Minerva at the laboratory.
“Copy. We found the ship. Positive,” Darwin sighted with various marine species and planktons that cased the wreck galleon.
After they cleared the site with suction tubes innovated by Darwin, together they finished the daunting task of clearing the vessel, for barely six weeks, after which, the exigent underwater mapping had been undertaken. In his passion to collect almost all of its antiquities systematically, Charles planned conscientiously its recovery: small to grandiose materials, scanned through navigational screens. An astringent assignment. Charles hindered by his age to dive its depth, and so, he retired and stayed at the campsite. Inside his spacious tent, it housed hi-tech equipment. From the screens, he led and commanded his mermen workers using the enormous navigational submarine-like equipment named Superstar. A high-powered remote-controlled machine that could easily triple a human’s manual work with tape measures, to transmit information below with its plotting cameras, laser beams, and the video cameras, hanging on the exterior shooting a three-D moving pictures of the wrecked ship.
The ship was a trading Dutch Galleon. Though, he expected rigorous recovery, his very tired, laborious team retrieved half only of the relics during the first season of their expedition. Happily, Darwin discovered more Dutch wine bottles, same old as the bottle he unearthed in his excavation at the shipyard. Every time, divers cautiously ascended from the seabed, they held tightly those priceless collections, graceful in their movements. Copious Chinese porcelain wares and glazed vases probably during the Ming dynasty of Ching Tai-Chia Ching astonished them. And exquisite gold and diamonds from Europe and Mexico sparkled its luster. Earthenwares for food and water storage robed by intricate coral reef. And sailors’ bones resurrected.
“The treasures of Happy Valley are bounty,” Charles said to his nephew.
“And the collections speak for itself, my great uncle” Darwin thanked him.
During the second season of the expedition, he and his wife joined the team at the sea, but they stayed at the hundred-foot-long platform vessel. It served as their headquarters above the sea. Bridget also escorted them at the vessel. When most of the artifacts had been retrieved, the team laboriously processed it at the campsite: they cleaned, dried, accessioned and recorded all its archeological richness. Since the end of the project, Darwin changed a lot. He cordially congratulated the chief archeologist for his dedication and leadership.
They were saviors of great treasures.
Darwin wrote me in New York after their successful expedition.
He said that the galleon once shone like a gigantic star under the sea. But the sea, unmasked with mysterious tales. The earthen vessel had been deciphered with profound antiquities. Almost five hundred years, a memory withdrawn in oblivion before the truth had been revealed. A mythical history by a heroic story. It bedazzled our minds of Don Vargas’ one-act play? In Golden Black Seaport: a place of outright cowardice. When Dutch galleons fired cannon balls to admired Spanish galleons. But the largest Dutch fleet sunk. Shipwrecks haunted by a mendacious ghost. Yes buried and rebuked under the sea of disgraced tidal waves. Its antiquities spoke for it. It happened here. The once majestic Dutch galleon sunk in its purest soul. But resurrected with grandiose mysteries and discoveries. Thus, it became the soul of the past...
After that, they ferried the collections through a cargo ship to Manila with the help of Kim’s new marine transport industry and carefully wrapped in bubble bags and Styrofoam. Everything went smoothly. The biggest bonanza turned to be so extraordinary. Triumphant days for the seasoned archaeologist, rightfully able to attain his lead and owned the valued recognition. In fact, his archrival nephew recognized his ingenuity. Darwin even supported him in his reports and presentation.
The chief archeologist had saved the resort. He built a small museum at the old town of Daan-Ili as promised to the wise man in his dream. And every time tourists and investors stepped down the hub, a massive archaeological landmark would be seen, recognized historically by the National Historical Institute. Charles and Darwin weaved fabrics of the unforgotten splendor of Happy Valley.
He traverses the beach resort at the Golden Black Seaport in Appari, thinking some great galleons drowned in the seabed and its treasures untouched by the fishermen and local divers. That was almost five hundred years ago but until now some locals confirmed none of the treasures below had neither been recovered nor stolen for the past decades. As a prime archaeologist, Charles is commissioned by the National Museum after his controversial discovery of the ancient bones and the brick kiln in Liwan Valley. In his new mission, the now famed archaeologist, exuding a bright aura, will carve another history in the making to unearth treasures of the lost Dutch galleon.
The Golden Black Seaport is indeed an archaeological site. A known resort and storage of great legends and artifacts. Some says that it was an erstwhile metal smelting archaeological site during the Manila-Acapulco trade. The vast property maybe a shipyard for ship fastenings in the past.
Charles spots an abrupt change in his domain; not by its geomorphology, but because a dangerous, threatening living specimen steps in his property. The barangay captain broaches him to Darwin – a young yet aloof balikbayan anthropologist from University of Arizona. The wannabe protégé has debunked contentious discoveries of his uncle Charles in either academic journals or international forums as both untrue and hoaxes, and later to claim honor and prestige in the academe. He even maligns the older Indiana Jones’ credibility in front of his imported team.
The noon roofs the archeological site as the sun ascends and reaches its strategic throne. Charles stops his workers from clearing wild grasses, cogon and bamboos. He heads straight to the site laboratory where his wife Minerva and research assistant Bridgett stay for lunch.
He freaks out!
The seasoned archeologist amoks with immense frustration with Darwin’s sudden unfriendly visit to the site. He cuts into pieces the alidade mapping, although the ladies were used to his temper, and then they just scorn him.
“What’s your freaking problem, Charles?” Minerva inquires but he remains rough with himself.
He knows that his nephew would become his top rival in the project. He cautions the ladies inside the room to stay away from him.
“He’s a big threat to us!”
“What made you think of that, sir?” Bridget asks him.
“I just know it. I can’t explain! He has all the keys and secrets,” he says while chasing hardly his breath.
“Let me see,” his wife thinks, “it’s better if we hire a local historian, maybe this could help us…” Minerva suggests while chewing a spoon of rice.
“No!” he adamantly replies.
The night entangles the surrounding. Sea waves harmoniously blend with the strong wind dancing with sundry trees and its million foliages. Lola Juana, a native narrator and one of the fine storytellers arrives at the laboratory. She engages herself with intimate stories about the place to the ladies. Although, that time Charles retires early and refuses meeting the old oracle. Out of the blue, he changes his mind when his wife admonishes that she would not sleep beside him unless he will talk to the chronicler.
“Good evening, sir!” she utters in her sore voice.
“What can I do for you?” he asks.
Minerva starts explaining, by her suggestion that noon to hire a local historian, and so, able to convince the old woman to come. Lola Juana is articulate as ever as enchanting, possesses a surprising youthful charm then reiterates her story when seven Moro pirates attacked a Spanish galleon in the old port near the resort. In her story, the ruling Spaniards defeated the pirates. It was a bloody fight. Many foreigners died. Blood spilled to the sea. Local residents got scared when Moro virtas frequented the horizon. As a result, inhabitants abandoned the village and chose to settle in Allacapan.
“In what place?” Charles catches her saying while holding tightly his cup of coffee. His drug every time he appears haggard.
“The creepy town!” she reiterates.
“Do you know about the map?” the archeologist asks boldly.
She looks abysmal and pauses after his inquiry. He psyches then scrutinizes every detail of her words; her expressions and thoughts. Startlingly the beautiful storyteller perspires heavily, as if she sits in the inquisition, and wipes her sweats with black handkerchief. That proves his prejudged impression that she might be one of the witches in the small town based from the local historian’s facade.
“Don Vargas!” she hastily utters, “Sir...I really have to go now…” she appears so clumsy. She stands up nervously and strides toward the closed tent door. Meanwhile Minerva requests the two other scientists to accompany her at the bank after that she paddles quickly her boat.
The full moon shines so enthralling that its light has illuminated the shores of the famed seaport. During the anchovy season from November to March, fishing boats and outfits operating nets, the largest of the local outfits cease to work, and their absence marks the “low season” as typified by a retreating flow of fish.
Midnight enclosed the place yet both of them could not sleep. Perhaps baffled of the accounts told by the local historian. Suddenly he froze by the cold wind, prompted from the shore. He wrapped doubly his body with coat and blanket. As he turned to her, he smacked his wife a stolen kiss before sleeping, and suddenly, she pushed him away and wept.
“You shouldn’t have asked about the map!” her voice quaked.
“What are you talking about my lovely wife,” he snorted haughtily, “next time when you get a squealer, make sure she is credible,” as he embraced her, “common, let’s sleep now. You promised!”
“Shut up! What if she’s telling the truth?” she murmured.
“Show me the evidence! Simple as that,” he reasoned out.
The next sunny day, Darwin commanded his workers and built the grid system located near the pond.
“Geomorphology…” he conversed with his workers, “…this site is prone to flood. This is a stream delta surrounded by mangrove under the brackish swampy to marshy environment,” thus referred to the area, “adjust it to S7 E25 and move to the east, instead change it to S7 E26,” he taught his team, measured the grid before laying it out with strings and stakes.
“Stop!” warned his Uncle Charles, “you don’t have a permit from the National Museum to excavate!”
Darwin did not listen to his livid, fuming Uncle Charles and persevered in his task. Immense wrath invaded the archeologist’s nerves. He even neared him and blocked the presumptuous dilettante anthropologist. But tactful, as a result, in Darwin’s haste displeasure to his rival excavator, he haughtily showed the permit in front his uncle’s two stuffed eyes.
“This is a lesson for you, Uncle Charles!” Darwin ridiculed him.
But Charles stared minutely at him and then turned his back. Late in the afternoon, the thwarted archaeologist sat so anguished at the beach and threw pebbles and dead shells back to the sea. Excitedly, he sighted dolphins which had consequently uplifted his drive. It was a therapeutic view for him. Those marvelous sea mammals passed the luminous sea; chased by a motorized boat that ferried French and Taiwanese tourists and a local folk. They crusaded its path and photographed. Tourists and fishermen always got excited of that tame underwater species. As he watched them, his mind wandered mysteriously - the sun quickly vanished into the twilight then it settled at its cot, clouds moved fast forward and transformed from orange to gray, the stars and moonlight glowed extremely then planets revolved in three dimensional positions, tsunamis and tidal waves flooded his face, drowned him together with a vast galleon. All of the things he saw, including him had been drowned by a corpulent shark. His vista turned so surreal.
“Remove it!” he pulled out the fingers covering his eyes. Immediately he recovered his consciousness but saw everything around him back to normal. The sleepy sun was descending from its throne and boats strolled the waves of a dazzling seascape.
“Sorry, lonely boy,” equipped Bridget and took out her fingers from his weary eyes. She appeared horny in her bathing suit and jumped off the big waves.
“No!” he shouted at them. “Don’t swim!” he cautioned after a strain in his bizarre daydreaming.
“Why sir?” responded loudly by his associates, already half-naked and guys chased the lone babe in the cold waves. They swam gaily. They braved each other and swam farther away from the shoreline. Charles stammered at the coastline. He quickly returned to the laboratory. As he passed the site, Darwin’s team had already dug deeply, about two hundred meters from the LDP at quadrant one and one hundred fifty meters at quadrant two. They exposed a strange stone formation. Some of them wondered that it might lead to the hidden treasures but the budding anthropologist was still secretive about it. Then, he intentionally roofed his prized artifacts with pages of newspapers from the eyes of his archrival.
“This is espionage!” he alleged to his men while his uncle passed by their square.
Charles arrived enraged at the villa. His wife gladly saluted him in great ecstasy especially that she could already present proofs to him about the tales of her informant that she indeed was telling the truth based from historical literatures of the town. Hastily, she showed some books but frustrated by her husband’s vacillating feeling.
“We could not make it. I’m totally lost!” he consulted her, “he has the map!”
“Who? Your evil nephew? Don’t lose hope, darling? We have one more alas,” she fortified his ego. She believed that his husband’s strength would rebound after he read the notes she jotted.
He rested on his favorite chair. It comforted his back. Then, she took off his shoes and odorous socks. Sit back and relax. While he read those thick ethnographies and notes his wife shown to him about the shipyard, suddenly, it pasted him an envious smile. It certainly shimmered his odd feeling. He fell to sleep but waves of noises disturbed and drove him mad. As he stood and peeked at the window, he went out, and sternly summoned his staff by his irate voice.
“What the heck you’re shouting about?” bellowed Charles. Minerva was surprised too. The group of swimmers neared him. Still, their bodies soaked with salt water and handed down a beautiful unbroken kendi or a pouring vessel.
“We found it beneath the sea of only ten feet deep,” narrated Bridgett.
“Bring it to the laboratory,” he commanded his researchers, “and you lady, put on your clothes,” he looked at her with discontentment, “we got work to do now!”
Immediately, his fervor ingenuity and skills had flourished, challenged by the existence of that miniature kendi. He sensed it would give him a lead. It seemed his instinct had rejuvenated and his renewed zest had unfolded his mission in unveiling the kendi’s mystery. Perhaps, a key to the lost Dutch galleon he had been searching for many decades. As he entered the laboratory, he walked silently to the computer and analyzed a graphic matrix. The battle between two galleons under Spanish Lt. Gov. Gen. Antonio de Morga and Dutch Admiral Oliver Van Noort off Batangas on sixteen hundred. A first marine battle between two European powers to attain glory. Spain versus Netherlands. Unfortunately, it defeated Spain’s San Diego, also known as San Antonio. It carried bountiful relics, though. In fact, that fateful event pioneered the underwater archaeology in the archipelago.
“Bring to me the kendi. What’s the date?” he asked the stunning tall Bridgett.
“Almost five hundred years old,” she replied.
“Okay! Come to think of it! Did westerners show interest in Chinese things?”
“Of course!” glided Minerva while he attentively eavesdropping to him.
“First thing first. Let’s study the trading route of the galleons,” he drilled his team.
“But sir, this place is a shipbuilding site during the Spanish regime!” Bridget echoed, “Naturally, galleons did come in this place, right?” she stretched her point.
“Perhaps one of the many uncovered sites, “ Charles quickly added.
“So, the great archaeologist did found his momentum!” Darwin suddenly intruded around the busy team, “Well, that’s certainly good news. Now we have the same score, uncle. I also found a Dutch wine bottle, probably in the same period as that of your kendi.”
“What are you doing here?” Charles asked fiercely.
“Just adding information,” his infuriating words, “I challenge you uncle, whoever gets the first grand lead will get the recognition…” he smirked sheepishly at him, as if not afraid of the big fish.
“I certainly take the challenge!” he stated very strongly.
Charles’ team noticed that the terrain had silty clay loam with grayish color closer to black containing bountiful organic materials, eco-facts, and artifacts like brick tiles, pot fragments, mirrors, fragment of glasses, shells and corals of recent time. After the exhausting excavation, both teams finished their ordinary day with no extraordinary discoveries. But Darwin’s team, still pompous of their stone formations. Headway to new, stronger links to the treasures of the lost Dutch galleon. In no haste, Charles could not resist with enormous evidences on slag and fuel, metals and iron, proving smelting was one of the major activities undertaken in the coast before; backed up with oral and archaeological evidences. It surely showed that shipbuilding industry thrived in the newest hub.
Later that chilly night, the prime archeologist’s team worked overtime. They brainstormed. Talked about updated theoretical frameworks in doing the excavation in saving portions of the site for the next generation archaeologists who may have equipped with high-tech gadgets. Archaeology may sometimes mean destruction. They drunk cold beers while softly discussed of where to search the real map. Though at the back of his mind, he was convinced that his nephew did not have the authentic map, by reason that up to that moment he fretted his lead. Obsessively he observed the kendi. He reviewed it as one of the many artifacts retrieved from the Spanish navio (merchant ship) of San Antonio, off Fortune Islands. Startlingly, his wife appeared to them. With her wizardry of the subject, she presented the route of the Dutch armada Mauritius, thinking it would help him in his quest of the map. Then, they all headed in front the IBM computer.
“Look at this perspective,” she took a big breath while holding closely the mouse.
“Noort left Holland in fifteen ninety-seven with two hundred forty-eight men and four ships,” pointed the jpeg picture to her husband, “Passing Strait off Magellan, he attacked shipping on the west coast of South America, raided Valparaiso in Chile and directly sailed to the Philippines.”
“Then what happened?” he asked more questions.
“He landed first near Capul Island just inside the Strait of San Bernardino,” she pointed the map, “and then by some circumstances, he might had passed Cagayan,” she looked at him, still thinking deeply.
“Interesting!” Bridget claimed.
“For sure we are not looking for Mauritius,” he cautioned them, “that theory may be true, but what we are searching are other Dutch galleons who may have the same path as that of victorious Mauritius...”
“Exactly!” his wife retorted.
THAT VERY same evening, the local historian bothered again the couple. But then, he affably conversed at her inside his well-lit laboratory. He listened conscientiously to her. He thought she could be a credible source ready to help him in his mission.
“I heard the last word you mentioned before was Don Miguel Vargas, right? That’s the father of my grandfather” he recapped.
“Yes, sir,” she nodded.
“Why you mentioned his name?” he asked her while playing his hands, “are you saying then that he...you know...that Vargas let’s say has connection to the treasures of the lost Dutch galleon?”
“A galleon? There were also mini-galleons,” she corrected him, “mini-galleons were built here,” she told him.
“Honey,” Minerva interrupted him, “I think she’s right. She must have a better clue,” she then concluded.
“Continue please madam,” he courteously uttered and addressed the guest with some respect, “and the old town you’re referring? What is the relation of all these – Don Vargas and the mini-galleons?” putting into sequence the facts.
“Very important!”
“What about?” he mellowed his temper.
“Go to Daan-Ili in Allacapan and you will meet Ildandencio. I will ask my grandson Puto to meet you at the riverbank, beside the market, early in the morning. He knows about the map. Just tell the codename, Biuag and Malana. Remember, follow the river,” her firm instruction.
“Biuag and Malana?” he snooped, “you mean the local epic heroes?”
“Do it quickly! There’s no time left…”
“Why?” his last query.
“I really have to go now,” and she hurriedly walked off.
“Daan-Ili? No, don’t go there, honey! Please, listen to me!” she hysterically cautioned him as her eyes struck with fear.
“Call them all!” he commanded his wife, “I need to talk to them!” in his trademark furious words, walloped inside the laboratory.
His whole staff was already asleep when they gathered in front of him. Bridgett was in her pajamas and her face polished with cream. Charles instructed each one of his men and women. He gave them special missions especially Bridgett to head a team to the old, creepy town by land.
“I don’t wanna go to that old town! They say it’s dangerous out there! Assign me another work, please!” Bridgett grumbled girlishly.
“I will head the team,” Minerva unwaveringly volunteered.
“Not in your condition. You will stay here. Guard our plots in the site!” he said to her.
“No!” Glenda protested.
“Mark my word!” he insisted.
“Hell! I hate it! I don’t like adventures!” Bridgett muttered. She frowned as she returned to her room.
“You’ll love it soon – it’s like the Callao Caves adventure, babe!” Charles wheedled her.
The sun had not yet risen when Charles met Puto at the riverbank. They navigated the trail of the long Cagayan River. Bridgett headed the all boys team to Daan-Ili, known to be a garrison during the Japanese invasion and cradle of fierce Huks after the liberation. It maybe the road was narrow and rough that caused the Nissan highlander to wiggle but they reached the far-off place safely. Even before the sudden expedition, sages of the town had been discouraging visitors to reach the so-called ghost town.
At the campsite Minerva guarded the tent, disturbed by the unceasing barking of dogs. Her eyes, so keen enough to her surrounding. She hid behind the half closed tent to sneak a quick look at the passersby. Darwin’s team hobbled at the camp and carried scuba gears with them, she suddenly suspected something terrible, and perhaps the rival team might have an option. She felt skeptic of my son’s team, thinking they might have found the authentic map. When she peeked at them, for the second time, all of the diggers grandiosely wear scuba gears, and attentively listened to Darwin.
Finally, Charles and his team met at the ‘old creepy town’. More than anything else, the place was as lovely as its orchards and gardens. Amazed eyes towed to the kaleidoscopic sceneries of mountains and river, deceived by people who claimed the place as an ugly town. The heritage Spanish villas, cemeteries, and its baroque church were still preserved.
“Never been to Oz!” Charles proclaimed upon stepping the town.
As he surfaced from the boat, Puto stayed behind. He walked freely, but not tensed. His paces tracked by his anxious team but saw people living quietly in the enamored town. And later they bumped estrange camouflaged men behind an impressive Spanish villa. The haunted-like villa silently opened its door and they hauled in sudden jolt. They were frightened to enter the house and chirped like noisy children.
“Silence!” Charles shouted, “I will go first...” and climbed up the stairs.
“Codename!” says a voice, perhaps from the guard he deemed.
“Biuag and Malana,” he replied fretfully.
The door opened. Bridget and the guys climbed up also the stairs. They entered half-heartedly but as soon as they were inside, the guards shut the huge door, and a platoon showed up. A wise bearded hermit sat at the nucleus of the archaic room, surrounded by his feisty guards.
Then, the archaeologist spoke gently, “You must be Ildandecio,” and he told about the map.
“Many have tried to come into this place thinking they would get the map,” the wise man had spoken, “but they failed!” he said in his stern admonition.
“What would you do once you have searched the treasures?” he asked.
“The country owns the treasures,” Charles in his bold utterance, “it is better to bring back to where it truly belonged!”
The wise man agreed and said, “Don’t forget to give a piece of that treasure to this town so that children here will remember that once, this town became part of our history.”
“I will build a museum in this town, maybe soon...” he replied.
“Where’s the map?” Charles turned so impatient.
“You already had it?” he bluffed, “you already found it Charles, do you?” the wise man beamed.
“No. I still don’t have.”
“Go home and you will see it. Go!” the wise man uttered his final say.
As he woke up that day, his joints and bones were aching, as if he had traveled so far and toiled so hard from the excavation, but as he tried to recall, he had never accomplished a heavyweight task since day one of his project. He moved to the laboratory and asked his wife if the local historian returned last night, hastily she confirmed, the sage was frightened to return, perhaps afraid of him. He felt confused. Abruptly, his scientific illustrator ran to him. He reported that Darwin’s team had begun undertaking a preliminary underwater mapping at the nearby coast. Sudden loath subdued his sanity. Immediately, Minerva prepared his coffee. As soon as Bridget entered the laboratory, fresh from bath, she went straight to dating artifacts. He looked at her. And then inquired her if she recalled a trip to the old town of Daan-Ili. Yet she responded that she had never been to the creepy town. He turned so paranoid, perhaps paranoid of his dream. He was thinking where he bore the codename Biuag and Malana? Out of nowhere. Then, the seasoned archaeologist turned his neck, stretched it with simple calisthenics. But when he came to face the kendi, suddenly the stunning scientist astounded also at the relic, as she sealed it with a plaster of Paris for restoration, words of the wise man in his dream rewind so fast, and in a haste circumstance, the kendi fell from her hands.
“Oh no!” she screamed, “I broke it!”
Charles ran. He glimpsed at the broken relic.
“It’s okay,” he said as she shriveled on his shoulder. As he looked down, he saw a crumpled map that suggested its oldness.
“Goodness! It’s a…” he deceased to name it. His men neared them; shocked of what was inside the broken kendi.
“Thanks my genie!” Charles excitedly declared, “don’t tell to anyone about this!”
But suddenly, an elderly man in patchwork attire entered the tent and searched the chief archeologist. When he turned his happy eyes to the guest, unexpectedly, he recalled a face similar in his madcap dream. He surely knew he already met him - somewhere.
“I am Ildandencio,” the man identified himself.
Charles still mystified. He scrutinized his hermit-like face. And then, he felt a bit scared as soon as he realized his dream was coming into reality.
“I could help you in your quest!” said Ildandencio.
“How?” the archeologist asserted.
“Sir, I heard about your search of the Dutch galleon. I dreamed of you many nights with the kendi,” his face bewailed trying to convince him, “that broken object came from me. Yesterday I was in the boat. I was with some tourists and I dropped it in the sea, so your men would retrieve it. I wanted to personally give it to you but I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me…so…” he punned.
“Where did it come from?” he asked him.
“My grandparents gave it to me. It was a gift of great Don Vargas to them, after saving his life from the pirates” he stressed, “the kendi was popularly known here as Biuag and Malana,” he narrated.
Charles eavesdropped attentively, though he had still queries in mind. The strange man also recounted that pirates had stolen the kendi. The kendi, in fact, turned to be a mythical object. Believed that whoever held it would become immortal. So, there was a massive search for the antique. When it was found by a group of treasure hunters in Babuyan Island from the pirates’ wrecked vista, drowned by raging sea, unluckily they died in an ambush in Happy Valley. Many decades passed when Ildandencio’s kindred found it from the communist’s camp, after a bloody retaliation of the marines in Marrag Valley.
Actually, numerous Chinese porcelains and kendis had been bartered with Dutch explorers for food and wine. But Spaniards and Dutch always fought in the high seas and a number of Dutch Galleons were drowned and for centuries, it rested on the waterbed.
THE EXPEDITION was a grandiose event. It took several months to muster experts and workers in the waterworld site. They had recovered bounty of relics and treasures of the biggest Dutch Galleon, wrecked beneath the waters of Golden Black Resort in Happy Valley. Charles led his thirty-eight-man team combined with Darwin’s dozen-man team, and some elite associates of the Underwater Archeology Division of the National Museum. It composed of professional divers trained in France, having diplomas at International Certificate of Scientific Research Diving, documenters, photographers, scientific illustrators, and technicians. They toiled impressively. Under the sea, a three hundred-meter long suction tube, and deep tow nuclear magnetic resonance magnetometers and recording equipment, imported from the U.S. and Europe helped them saved its hidden treasures. Ten professional divers including Charles and Darwin dived the cold water initially for transects. Indeed, layers of sands and tons of rocks on the seabed had tremendously sheltered the ship and its priceless artifacts.
“Do you hear me? Copy! Copy!” said Charles submerged two hundred fifty-nine meters feet like a merman in his scuba-diving gear, as he deciphered and transmitted codes to Minerva at the laboratory.
“Copy. We found the ship. Positive,” Darwin sighted with various marine species and planktons that cased the wreck galleon.
After they cleared the site with suction tubes innovated by Darwin, together they finished the daunting task of clearing the vessel, for barely six weeks, after which, the exigent underwater mapping had been undertaken. In his passion to collect almost all of its antiquities systematically, Charles planned conscientiously its recovery: small to grandiose materials, scanned through navigational screens. An astringent assignment. Charles hindered by his age to dive its depth, and so, he retired and stayed at the campsite. Inside his spacious tent, it housed hi-tech equipment. From the screens, he led and commanded his mermen workers using the enormous navigational submarine-like equipment named Superstar. A high-powered remote-controlled machine that could easily triple a human’s manual work with tape measures, to transmit information below with its plotting cameras, laser beams, and the video cameras, hanging on the exterior shooting a three-D moving pictures of the wrecked ship.
The ship was a trading Dutch Galleon. Though, he expected rigorous recovery, his very tired, laborious team retrieved half only of the relics during the first season of their expedition. Happily, Darwin discovered more Dutch wine bottles, same old as the bottle he unearthed in his excavation at the shipyard. Every time, divers cautiously ascended from the seabed, they held tightly those priceless collections, graceful in their movements. Copious Chinese porcelain wares and glazed vases probably during the Ming dynasty of Ching Tai-Chia Ching astonished them. And exquisite gold and diamonds from Europe and Mexico sparkled its luster. Earthenwares for food and water storage robed by intricate coral reef. And sailors’ bones resurrected.
“The treasures of Happy Valley are bounty,” Charles said to his nephew.
“And the collections speak for itself, my great uncle” Darwin thanked him.
During the second season of the expedition, he and his wife joined the team at the sea, but they stayed at the hundred-foot-long platform vessel. It served as their headquarters above the sea. Bridget also escorted them at the vessel. When most of the artifacts had been retrieved, the team laboriously processed it at the campsite: they cleaned, dried, accessioned and recorded all its archeological richness. Since the end of the project, Darwin changed a lot. He cordially congratulated the chief archeologist for his dedication and leadership.
They were saviors of great treasures.
Darwin wrote me in New York after their successful expedition.
He said that the galleon once shone like a gigantic star under the sea. But the sea, unmasked with mysterious tales. The earthen vessel had been deciphered with profound antiquities. Almost five hundred years, a memory withdrawn in oblivion before the truth had been revealed. A mythical history by a heroic story. It bedazzled our minds of Don Vargas’ one-act play? In Golden Black Seaport: a place of outright cowardice. When Dutch galleons fired cannon balls to admired Spanish galleons. But the largest Dutch fleet sunk. Shipwrecks haunted by a mendacious ghost. Yes buried and rebuked under the sea of disgraced tidal waves. Its antiquities spoke for it. It happened here. The once majestic Dutch galleon sunk in its purest soul. But resurrected with grandiose mysteries and discoveries. Thus, it became the soul of the past...
After that, they ferried the collections through a cargo ship to Manila with the help of Kim’s new marine transport industry and carefully wrapped in bubble bags and Styrofoam. Everything went smoothly. The biggest bonanza turned to be so extraordinary. Triumphant days for the seasoned archaeologist, rightfully able to attain his lead and owned the valued recognition. In fact, his archrival nephew recognized his ingenuity. Darwin even supported him in his reports and presentation.
The chief archeologist had saved the resort. He built a small museum at the old town of Daan-Ili as promised to the wise man in his dream. And every time tourists and investors stepped down the hub, a massive archaeological landmark would be seen, recognized historically by the National Historical Institute. Charles and Darwin weaved fabrics of the unforgotten splendor of Happy Valley.
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