Phases of the Revolution
Like the moon, creates confusion. Though many trace the seeds of war to the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, the Philippine Revolution began with the Revolution of 1896—the war against Spain. Then comes the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, between Spain and the Philippines, which leads to the revolutionists’ exile to Hong Kong. Third comes U.S. Commodore George Dewey, who shipped the revolutionists from Hong Kong to Manila during the American Phase of the Revolution, when Filipinos defeated Spain with American guns and set up the Malolos Republic. The fourth phase of the revolution, the Philippine-American War, is tragic. The final phase—
Plagiarism
Form of flattery.
Puns
Enough already.
Quioquiap
Evil; throw him into history’s dustbin but make fun of him first. Counter-reformist Spaniard Pablo Feced was an enemy of Spanish reformists and Filipino writers of the Propaganda Movement. Quioquiap was his poison pen name.
Retana, W. E.
Evil; Rizal disliked him. Historical irony: Retana ended up in control of many of Rizal’s papers.
Schoolhouses
Rizal’s obsession; what he built in exile in Dapitan. Much admired by Rizal’s fan, Raymundo Mata.
Sublime Paralytic
Sublime epithet. A genius cripple who directed war from his rattan rocking chair a.k.a. butaka. Reason for his famed paralysis: unknown. Hero Most Admirable: like Ricarte, refused to pledge allegiance to the Americans. Exiled to Guam, died in grace. See Mabini, Apolinario.
Tanaga
Popular Filipino textual form. Unlike the balagtasan, moro-moro, Urbana at Feliza epistolary manual, Doctrina Cristiana, novenas, zarzuelas, medieval romances, folk legends, riddles, slumbook pages, etc., it is not mentioned in this manuscript. Now it is.
Unamuno, Miguel D.
Existentialist Basque philosopher. Born 1864 in Bilbao, Spain, died 1936 in Salamanca, Spain. Liked Rizal. Really, really liked Rizal. Couldn’t decide what to call him: Tagalog Hamlet, Oriental Don Quixote, Filipino Christ, Tagalog Christ-Quixote, Compendium of History, et cetera. Also called The Indecisive Spaniard.
Valenzuela
Now a town in Bulacan. Dr. Pio Valenzuela’s famous visit to Rizal in Dapitan indirectly led to the hero Rizal’s death. Oops. Dr. Pio Valenzuela’s companion on that fateful visit was our memoir’s hero, Raymundo Mata.
Writing Memoirs
Popular form of exculpation, axe-grinding, factoid-making, score-settling, self-immolation. Some categories of memoirs include: Fun Facts, Prison, Published-When-All-Relevant-Witnesses-Are-Dead, Sublime Analysis, Second-Try-Because-First-Testament-Was-A-Disaster, Minor Character, Musician, Unclassifiable.26 Other types (comparative) are: Mirror Memoirs; Duel Memoirs; and Plain Conflicting Memoirs. The Philippine Revolution has been the subject of all of the above.
X
Not the best option when signing your name in blood.
Youth
Raise high thy brow serene.
Zamboanga
The town of Dapitan is in the province of Zamboanga, on the island of Mindanao, southernmost and second largest landmass of the archipelago. Very far away from the capital, Manila. Rizal was exiled there in 1892. Site of famous meeting between heroes Raymundo Mata and Jose Rizal.
14 The reader may skip this glossary and flip over to it occasionally as the need arises. On the other hand, it’s best to be forewarned. (Trans. Note)
15 Aha!! This acrostic reads: J-o-s-e R-i-z-a-l! Jokes or slips enlightened raw intelligence—my foot! The Philippine national hero, writer of the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, eye surgeon, polyglot, traveler, martyr, does not deserve being only the butt of a joke, Ms. Translator, Mimi C.! Even worse, introduced only by footnote! Rizal is the center of all things Filipino—though also the undeserving punchline of all things Filipino. To speak his name is to honor the nation. (Estrella Espejo, Quezon Institute and Sanatorium, Tacloban, Leyte)
16 “To the Flowers of Heidelberg.” Oh, that poem of the hero Rizal about missing his homeland in the cold climes of Germany while he studied to be a medical doctor so he could fix his mother’s cataracts! I sympathize! The temperate climes are Nature’s diabolical pox! (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
17 Ah, Ms. Translator: I see what you are doing. As you speak of binary thinking, decrying the destructive binary of Filipino vs Fil-Am, you enact binary thinking! A clever stratagem in your neurotic speech: a shrewd Borromean knot, if you ask me. But as a non-binary octoroon, I denounce it. (Dr. Diwata Drake, Paris, France)
18 Hehe, Dr. Diwata. Mea culpa. I cannot resist. (Trans. Note)
19 Aha!! That anagram does not escape my eagle ear: Zajir Solé = Jose Rizal! Again! Gotcha, Ms. Translator! Good one, though. (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
20 Oh, Tejeros! Site of the treacherous insult to the Great Plebeian, Andres Bonifacio, whose defeat in this original sin of an election fiasco, so common now in our corrupt times, not just in Manila but even in Georgia and Mississippi of the United States of America or Brazil of the other Americas!—this election anomaly was preface to the great hero’s assassination, damn you, Miong, a.k.a., General Emilio Aguinaldo, later first president of the Republic! Murderer! Traitor! (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
21 A breathtaking analysis, Mimi C. I love your fine, direct, empirical point here! (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
22 Ah, Estrella. How do you solve the problem of that differential space, of deference and defiance, among leaders of yet-unborn Nation? That is a question Paterno, Aguinaldo, et al, present in Mimi C.’s “breathtaking analysis”: how to gaze upon the (albeit also likely venal) Filipino master caste (in class, money, or learning) who are simultaneously mastered by The Master—yoked under the colonial bond? Does that differential space—the wrenched cry even among those with obvious upper hand—signal the crushing force of colonization or the demonic curse of empathy? (Dr. Diwata Drake, Kolkata, India)
23 I mock your differentially spastic—coconut, Dr. Diwata! Ulol na apologist ng may-kapangyarihan. (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
24 Sub-altern! Mon semblable, mon frère! (Dr. Diwata Drake, Paris, France)
25 Tuyaw! Gunggong! Uwat! (Estrella Espejo, ditto)
26 In order, from Fun Facts to Unclassifiable respectively, these are some examples from the Philippine revolution: memoirs of Santiago Alvarez, Artemio Ricarte, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Pio Valenzuela, Antonino Guevara, Julio Nakpil, Raymundo Mata.
Reading and Writing:
Some Notes on the Author’s Patrimony
By Estrella
