A look at the history of Mexico & the Philippines
Our friend Dr. Ricardo Soler sent us the manuscript of his new book, Mexico and the Philippines – An Unwritten Story, prior to its printing and the official launching at the residence of designer Jeannie Goulbourn in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City.
The book, which Dr. Soler edited, features scholarly and interesting articles written by National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose, former Senate president Ed Angara, Dr. Benito Legarda, Prof. Jaime Veneracion, Gemma Cruz Araneta and Charlson Ong. Ricky Soler himself penned the more extensive segment titled “How it all began.”
The book delves on the almost forgotten relationship between Mexico and the Philippines and the fact that the Philippines was ruled from Mexico until the latter obtained freedom from Spain in 1821.
The book is a revealing story of our period of colonization, during which time Spain turned over authority over the Philippines to Mexico. As former senator Ed Angara noted, the shared history and heritage of the Philippines and Mexico finds its roots in the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade. Quoting Dr. Rudy Guevarra Jr. of the Arizona State University, Angara wrote that the galleon trade established the foundation of what would become “a large, cultural, religious, agriculture; and human exchange across the Pacific.”
Ricky finds it unfortunate that the history of the said period had never been taught to Filipinos, so that to this day, people don’t even know that many Tagalog words like nanay, tatay, palengke and tiangge are really Mexican-Indian words that have become embedded in the Filipino language. Even some popular songs written in Spanish that people love to sing — Besame Mucho, Granada, Cielito Lindo, El Reloj and many others — are not really Spanish because they were composed and written by Mexicans and popularized in Mexico from where they made their way to the shores of the Philippines after the Viceregal era, a chapter in the book discloses.
“Mexico influenced us so much more than any other nation did, except, and only perhaps, the Chinese. This fact should not be allowed to rest in oblivion — hence this book,” Ricky concludes.
