March 16 - Manila, Philippines and a little history

We docked this morning in Manila, capital city of the Philippines. I’d never been here before so I decided to book an all-day tour called the “Best of Manila: Past and Present.”  The captain told us in his evening announcement that it would be very hot and humid (it was) and we were warned that traffic could be horrific in the afternoon so if any of us chose to go out on our own to leave ample time to get back to the ship before we sailed at 6 PM.  I found today extremely educational so I’m writing about some of the history I learned in the hope that I’ll remember it.  It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I found some of the information fascinating and it might come up in trivia one day so I should try to file it away somewhere in my head.

This group of young people greeted us as we docked.

Before I tell about my day I want to mention something very nice that Seabourn did today.  A few hundred of the 370 crew members are from the Philippines so today arrangements were made for family of crew members to come on board to see the ship and of course as many as possible of the Filipino crew were given time off.  Anyway, people were brought aboard in groups and if it was mealtime they ate onboard.  For those who were waiting for their time to come, a venue was set up nearby where they had a place to sit, food and beverages were served and they could stay cool.  The bridge officer who I’ve gotten to know told me that the visitors were able to tour the bridge and the children got pictures taken manning the controls.  I thought it was a very nice thing to do for the very hard-working staff.  

Back to my visit to Manila.    Officially called the Republic of the Philippines this country is composed of an archipelago of more than 7600 islands with the three largest being Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.  Manila is on Luzon island and nowadays the name Manila refers to the metro area which encompasses 16 cities and a population of more than 26 million people or nearly one quarter of the population of the whole country.

Evidence of life as early as several hundred thousand years ago has been found on the islands.  The original inhabitants were Austronesian people who came from both southeast Asia and Polynesia.  Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe and he claimed the islands in the name of Spain.  He was killed in a battle on one of the islands (Mactan) so he didn’t make it around the world. Actual Spanish colonization didn’t begin for another 50 years when another Spaniard arrived from New Spain (the name given to Spain’s colonies in the Americas) and began conquering all the various islands.  The Spanish enslaved many Filipinos and brought them to New Spain as workers and generally were very repressive.  They were also ardent missionaries intent on converting the native population to Catholicism. To this day 90% of the population is Christian with about 80% of those Catholic.

During the Spanish rule they fought wars against Moro pirates, the Dutch who were in nearby Indonesia, and the British who briefly occupied Manila for two years in 1762 to 1764 during the Seven Years War.  In the 19th century the islands opened up to world trade instead of just trade with Spain and as it did revolutionary sentiment began to grow.  Several activist priests were executed for dubious reasons and then in the early 1890’s armed revolt began.  One of the leading reformers, José Rizal, was executed in 1896 and today he is a national hero of the country.  In 1898 following the Spanish-American War, the Philippines came under US control and during the first few years when the US didn’t recognize an independent republic a lot of fighting went on.  A commission was formed and headed by future president William Howard Taft to end the hostilities and plan for the governance of the country. As a result of that group, a judicial system was created followed by a civil service, municipal codes and legislative bodies from the municipal to the provincial level.  All of these involved Filipino members and a peace was established.  Infrastructure and an educational system were built and in the 1930’s a framework for a 10-year plan for total independence from the United States was developed.  

Then came December 7, 1941.  Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese launched their attack on the Philippines. US airfields and navy facilities were attacked and the Japanese began troop landings.  Within days they had landed forces both north and south of Manila and began a pincer movement. By the end of December the American and Filipino forces had retreated into the Bataan Peninsula west of Manila Bay.  Japan took Manila and by early April the US and Philippine forces were overrun and had to surrender.  About 300 were able to escape and withdraw to Corregidor Island which lies at the entrance to Manila Bay.  Corregidor was the final obstacle to the Japanese for total control of Manila and eventually the whole country so they put a massive effort into bombarding the place.  On May 6, 1942 the remaining forces surrendered.  During the rest of WWII though fierce Filipino resistance and guerrilla activity continued throughout the islands causing lots of problems for the Japanese occupiers.  That resulted in massive retaliation and brutalities being inflicted on the people of the country.  It’s estimated that around 900,000 civilians and 60,000 military Filipino deaths occurred during the war.  Considering that the population at the outbreak of war was around 16 million, that’s a huge percentage.

After the war the Philippines gained independence in 1946 and became a constitutional republic. It has been an ally of the US although that alliance has been challenged under the leadership of the former president Duterte.  He sought to strengthen ties to China and Russia and that hasn’t actually worked out too well for the country.  China is claiming some of the islands and atolls that the Philippines claims as its territory and the Chinese have built artificial islands on some of these rocks barely sticking out of the sea.  The Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoals have been in the news because of the disputes and the Chinese have become increasingly aggressive.  Just last week here on the ship we heard about the latest incident between Chinese and Filipino vessels.  I gather from my tour today that the current government is calling for closer ties with the US and has even talked about the US reopening bases here that they kicked us out of years ago.  Which way will the wind blow tomorrow?

For now,  paalam na.  The guide told me that’s how to say goodbye in Tagalog.