‘Forbes,’ ‘Por-bes,’ or ‘Pobres Park’?

“Dasma” is short for Dasmariñas and refers to the posh gated community in Makati, not the busy Chinatown street in downtown Manila, or the first-class city in the province of Cavite. “Por-bes” used to refer to a street near España Avenue and the University of Santo Tomas named in honor of William Cameron Forbes, American governor-general of the Philippines (1908-1913), until it was changed to honor Arsenio H. Lacson, the colorful mayor of Manila (1952-1962). Forbes Park may be the premier gated community in the Philippines, but it has not kept sour grapes from commenting on mortgaged, repossessed, or sold properties in a place they sneeringly refer to as “Pobres Park.”

The historical Dasmariñas can either be Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, Spanish governor-general (1590-1593), or his son Luis Perez Dasmariñas, also a governor-general (1593-1596). Both of them came to mind while I was reading a selection from the Ming annals translated from the classical Chinese into English by a Dominican named Matthew Chen in 1965. The selection made for very interesting reading because it was a Chinese view of developments in the Philippines in the late 16th century—a point of view I have not seen before because I cannot read Chinese.

The Ming annals describe Luzon as being in “the south sea not far from Cang-chou.” It also records a tribute mission from Luzon arriving in China “in the first month of the fifth year of Hung-wu” that is 1372. To reciprocate, the Chinese sent a delegation to Luzon in “the tenth month of the third year of Yung-lo” or 1405. Envoys from Pangasinan visited China in 1410 and didn’t return for a long time. The visits resumed in the fourth year of Wan-li (1576), when the Chinese navy landed in Luzon in the course of chasing after a pirate named Lin Tao-chien.

What I found amusing was the narrative on how the Spanish duped the gullible natives of their land:

“Spain entered into trade by force. When the Spaniards saw that the country was an easy prey, they presented gifts to the king, with the request for a piece of land, ‘only as big as a cow’s hide,’ for the purposes of building houses to settle down. Unaware of their fraud, the king consented. But the Spaniards tore the cow hide into strips, which, joined end to end, measured about a mile long, and they marked out a piece of land therewith, and asked the king to fulfill his promise. The king was taken by surprise; but having promised, he could only let them have their way. Some taxes, however, were imposed on them according to the current regulations of the country.

“Having secured a foothold, the Spaniards built houses, erected walls, installed fire arms and posted garrisons for defense. Eventually they took advantage of the natives’ unpreparedness, attacked, killed the king, dispersed the people and occupied the kingdom. Luzon, though its name remained unchanged, had become in reality a Spanish colony.”

Then there is a relation of the Dasmariñas expedition to the Moluccas that occurred in “the eighth month of the 21st year of Wan-li” (1593), carrying 250 Chinese led by a certain Pan Ho-wu. Due to the harsh treatment of the Chinese oarsmen who rowed while the Spaniards slept, a mutiny was planned. When the Chinese were punished with a whipping or, sometimes, even death for minor offenses, Pan is quoted to have exhorted the Chinese thus:

“We die either for rebellion, or by flogging, or else we die in the coming battle. Why not kill the governor? Perhaps in this way we might have a chance of escaping from death? If we succeed, we shall sail home, if we fail and get caught, we die anyway.”

On the night of Oct. 25, 1593, Dasmariñas was killed in his cabin. His decapitated head was held aloft like a banner as the Chinese shouted battle cries. All the Spaniards on board were either killed or thrown overboard to drown. Pan now had command of the ship and its precious cargo. The mutineers changed course for China but got lost and ended up in Annam (Vietnam), where they were robbed. They got to their final destination by transferring to another vessel, but by then only 33 of the original 250 Chinese led by a certain Kuo Wei-t’ai had survived.

Luis Gomez Dasmariñas expelled the Chinese from Intramuros, destroyed their dwellings and forced them to live outside the walls. A Chinese ghetto, the Parian, was established, but when rumors spread of an impending Japanese invasion, the Spaniards feared that the Chinese would aid the enemy, so they were expelled.

I have long wondered what historical records are preserved in China on the Philippines, especially references to the islands before Miguel Lopez de Legaspi laid claim to the archipelago for the Spanish crown in 1565. We cannot use history in our dispute with China over the Spratlys because the Chinese have the maps and the records to show that they at least knew of these islands long before Magellan was born. The world as we know it today came about when accurate maps were made in the 19th century, which not only showed the shape of land and sea but also indicated borders, real and imagined, that are the source of current territorial disputes between nations. Chinese historical sources will deepen our understanding of our own history by providing a point of view different from the Spanish view that our historians now rely on.

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