Basagan ng Trip with Leloy Claudio: Debunking myths on the origins of the Filipino

0:03 Good evening. Welcome to another edition of Basagan ng Trip. Ako po si Leloy Claudio. I teach history at De La Salle University. As always, kumikomento kayo, gusto niyo akong i -troll, you can always tweet me at Leloy Claudio. Ang tanong ko ngayon is, what is the biggest misconception about the origins of Filipinos? And to help me answer that question, I have with me the former dean of the School of Social Sciences at Ateneo de Malaya University. The former dean of the School of Social Sciences at Ateneo de Manila University. He is a professor at the Department of History at Ateneo de Manila University and he is also the editor of, I think, ito yung pinaka -importanting journal about Philippine history and anthropology in the Philippines. It's called Philippine Studies, Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. I have on my show today,

0:51 Professor Filomeno Aguilar. Sir Jun, how are you doing today? How are you doing this evening rather? I'm fine Lelo, how are you? I'm very good. How are you doing this evening, rather? I'm fine, Leloy. How are you? I'm very good. I'm very honored to have you here. So, let's dig right into it. What is the biggest misconception of people regarding the Pilipinas who were born? Leloy, you probably remember your student. And like our audience, a lot of us went through the school system and we learned the migration waves theory. Right. And first came supposedly the negritos The Gritos, followed by the Indonesian and then followed by the Malays. And the Malays

1:37 are supposed to be the real conquerors of these islands and they are the source of the Filipino people today. So, it's known as a migration wave theory because they came, these populations came in three discrete waves of migration. And they can't really go away. They boarded the boat and then they went straight into the Philippines. And there are different attributes, different attributes. Because the negrito, the negrito, the hair is cut, the hair is cut, and then the indonesian is cut, and then the malay is cut. It's actually a very racist theory, and of course, more than the physical

2:25 attributes, The theory is the level of civilization because Negrito was assumed to be the lowest civilization. The Indonesians are supposed to have brought some tools and tool making, but the Malays are supposed to have brought the Iron Age to the Philippines. They brought metal tools and that's how we began to actually begin the civilization on these islands. So you're telling me something that I learned during my prep is that it's bad? H. Otley Bayer, an American anthropologist and he's a revered figure in

3:12 anthropology. He went all over the country. He did research and he collected all of them, brought them to his department in UP. Otley Bayer was just developing an idea that was already prevalent during the late 19th century. From people like Rizal, Pardo de Tavera. Yes, and not only that, all over Southeast Asia, there were various kinds of theories. There was a migration wave theory. So, at that time, in the late 19th century, the real theory, if you like to put it, was developed by the BFF ni Rizal,

3:58 si Bloom and Treat. Ferdinand Bloom and Treat said that there were three waves of migration. Bloom and Treat said, mayroon din tatlong waves of migration. Nauna rin yung Negrito, pangalawa yung Malay na less civilized, followed by the third Malay wave, which was more civilized, so wala siyang Indonesian. At ang sabi niya, ni Bloom and Treat, ay yung Negrito were the first to come, low level of civilization, madali silang na -push into the hinterland. Followed by the less civilized Malays. Sino yung less civilized Malays? by the less -civilized Malays. Sino yung less -civilized Malays? Yung mga origins ng cultural minorities tulad

4:44 ng Igorot, that sort of ethnic group. Kaya lang sabi ni Blumenthal, tagkamali sila. Hindi nila naisip that when they intermarried with the Negritos, they would be contaminated. So, lalong bumagsak yung civilization nila. But then, the heroes come, the third wave. Ito na yung Malays. Sino yung Malays na highly -civilized? Ito na yung Malay. Sino yung Malays na highly civilized? Sila na yung mga naging Tagalog, Pampangan, Bisaya, Biculano, Ilocano. Low land, coastal population. At ito na yung origin ng Pilipinas. Yun ang tingin ni Rizal. Why can we say na flawed yung empirical basis ng itong theory na ito? Actually, for a theory, it's an interesting theory. Because people want to know, you know, where did these

5:34 people come from? You know, where did these people come from? So, hindi mo naman pwedeng sabihin na si Bayer walang evidence. He did as much as he could. He did archaeological diggings. Nakita niya nga yung mga tools na yun and skulls. And in his mind, he framed a migration wave theory. Si Blumentritt, based on what he read, he put together an idea. Again, based on what was already prevalent in Europe at that time. in Europe, pati na sa Estados Unidos, merong tinatawag na racial science. at din sa Estados Unidos, merong tinatawag na racial science. Tingin nila science ito at naniniwala talaga sila sa discrete waves of migration.

6:19 So where is the empirical gap? Okay, siguro bago doon, maaari ba natin discuss yung criticism ng migration wave theory? Okay, okay. Kasi... Napanggit mo racist, kanina? Oo, oo. At marami dito nag -o -object dahil sa yung parang pinaka -nationalist sentiment ng Pilipino. Parang pinaka -nationalist na sentiment ng Pilipino. Sabi niya, bakit ang kultura natin nanggagaling sa Indonesian at sa Malay? E paano naman yung Pilipino? So parang walang original Pilipino. And then, like F. Landa Hukhano quite rightly argued, e nung panahon na yun nagmamigrate sila, like 10 ,000 years ago, 5 ,000 years ago, wala pa namang Malay at wala pa namang Indonesian. So paano mo masasabi? at wala pa namang

7:10 Indonesian. So, paano mo masasabi? In such a way na iisipin mo, wala tayong original na Filipino culture. So, that was one of the criticisms. At saka, sinasabi parang, bakit naman discrete waves of migration? Yun ang tanong mo, wala naman talagang evidence tungkol doon. Walang clear evidence. And then, Hucano himself came up with an alternative theory saying, hindi, yung lahat ng tao dito sa tinatawag nating Southeast Asia ngayon, halos pare -pareho lang sila. Kaya lang, umunta sila. In Southeast Asia, they are almost like the same. That's why they go to different environmental niches, different coastal, different inland, different mountains, and they have their own culture, and they have diversification. They have become itsura. Yes, itsura. They have

7:58 diversification. It is now more exciting because these genetic people have been looking at the DNA And they've been looking at the DNA all over Southeast Asia, Asia, and then meron din grupo na tumingin sa DNA sa Philippines. Actually, lumalabas sa mga studies na geneticists is that the Philippines shares the same genes, the same mitochondrial DNAs that you inherit supposedly to the mother. And it is prevalent all over Asia, Southeast Asia, even Northeast Asia, and the people in Australia. Southeast Asia, even Northeast Asia, and then

8:45 some of these people, and they say they pictured us moving from South Asia all the way to Southeast Asia and moving up to the Philippine Islands, and then some of them went all the way to, let's say, Oceania, Papua New Guinea, and all the way to the Melanesia, Polynesia, and then to Australia. And they say, we share genetic features with people all around us. So it is very difficult to say, wait, is there a boat that has migration waves that have migration waves and its destination is Filipinas? People actually were moving. The reality is we don't know as far as the geneticists are concerned. They

9:34 really cannot identify any discrete waves. And we know this not just from genetics, we also know this from language, right? We also know this from language, right? From similarities in language. According to their theory, these regional movements, several of them, of people, and this happened about like 30 to 50 ,000 years ago, the migration from Taiwan, what is today Taiwan, they were speaking Austronesian, that happens around 5 ,000 to 9 ,000 years ago. And the Austronesian language from Taiwan, they came down to Southeast Asia, spread across. Asian language from Taiwan, they came down to Southeast Asia, spread across islands, Southeast Asia, all

10:20 the way to Madagascar, yung mga original inhabitants in the Austronesian. But the Austronesian language seemed to be so powerful na lahat ng mga taong nasa Philippine Islands all the way to the Indonesian Islands, all the way to the islands across the Indian Ocean, lahat sila nagsalita na ngayon ng Austronesian. All of them are speaking of Austronesian Languages. What the Austronesian Languages are? Can you just define that? Austronesian Languages, it's a technical term but it really, in the past we would call it the Malayopolinesian Language. It's the mother tongue of the languages. It's the general family of languages. And so, if you say the languages in the Philippines, Tagalog, Bisaya,

11:10 Ilocano Ibanag Kinaraya Kinaray -a, language ng Bontok, language ng Maguindanao, lahat sila pare -pareho. They're all really part of the Austronesian language. Pati yung mga lingwahe sa Indonesia, sa Javanese, Minangkabaw, lahat ito ay pare -pareho. They have a basic structure. At ang maganda sa theory ng genetics dito, wala kang basehan for racism. Dahil, you know, you cannot say, oh, the Filipino race. Ano yung Oh, the Filipino race, what is the Filipino race? What is the Indonesian race? Because we share the same genetic DNA. The DNA is shared all over Asia.

11:58 And it really is the strongest argument against racism. That's what I said before, Negrito. When you look at the Negrito, the Aita in Zambales, the Aita in Bicol or the Agta, The Agta, the Aita in the Visayas, in Luilo, those in Mindanao, they don't share the same genetic structure. So, we call them all Negrito, like Bayer did, called them all Negrito. Pero now the genes, the DNA data show, they're very different peoples. And not only that, the geneticists plotted this on a graph, and

12:46 it's not just that they're very near each other. Hindi. This is on a graph, and it's not just that they're very near each other. No. If you have a plot of graphs, they're all spread out. So, they cannot be one people riding on the same boat, you know, paddling happily until they reach their destination, the Philippine Islands. So, what you're saying is, in one country, the genetic code of the two of the most of the Philippines, Di ba medyo confusing yun ng konti? The way the geneticist explained this is that the diversity within a race is actually bigger than the diversity between races. But in any case,

13:35 ang mahalaga sigurong intindihin dito is dahil nga nagkaroon ng niching, nagkanyang niche, nagkaroon ng some groups did not intermarry, did not interact, they kept to themselves. They did not interact. They kept to themselves. So, their genetic structure became intact. But they also studied the DNAs of people in 13 regional capitals in the Philippines. That's the best. Because when they saw the genetic structure from the lowlands, the regional capitals, almost in a graph, they were all clustering around.

14:23 the same point. In other words, the process of homogenizing of the gene pool in the Philippines. So, some sameness, some difference. That is what humanity is all about. That's not just what the Philippines is about. Actually, Leloy, now there's almost no migration waves in the latest textbooks. If you look at it, positive na re na. latest textbooks. If you look at it, positive na rin na wala na yun. But, ang problema naman, wala namang binibigay na alternative theory. So, people begin to wonder, where did we all come from? And not only that, mahalaga ito kay Rizal,

15:08 alimbawa, dahil doon siya nagkakuha ng konsepsyo na ang Pilipino pala, tulad niya, ay nagmula dito sa third wave of migration. So, nagkaroon siya ng basis for identity. wave of migration. So, it has a basis for identity. But scientifically, it's a bad thing. So, in a sense, that's okay. The downside, of course, is that it was really, as we said, very racist and they did not even think of, in the Filipino nation that they were thinking of, they did not include the first wave and the second wave. Uncivilized. They should not have any role in the nation, dahil ang concern nila is not have any role in the nation because their concern is that Spain must

15:58 accept us as a civilized and the world must accept us as a civilized people. But the people who are angry because they are second wave, low civilization. That's the difficult question now. So what is the basis if not race? And I don't think it really should be race. And Rizal said, some of us are Chinese, But we all call ourselves Filipino. So, if we erase the basis, what's the best of our country? I think it is possible to simplify the genetic theory. Philippine history is not very narrowly focused on the Philippines. It has a more cosmopolitan view of the nation and to see that, look, we've had our own history,

16:45 but we share a lot of cultural, genetic affinities with all of our neighbors in the region and even beyond the region. in the region and even beyond the region? I think, personally, my take here is that there is a lot of tension. Because on the one hand, there is a difference. On the other hand, there is a niche and diversification. And on the other hand, sometimes you may ask, is it important to think about race at all? If we are oriented around the same values, maybe we can build a nation not around notions of culture, but on notions of values. Think about that. Pero mahirap sagutin itong mga tanong na ito. Values. Think about that. But it's hard to answer these questions. So the point is to talk to people,

17:31 your teachers, talk to your teachers, talk to your Filipino people and ask the question together. Who are we together? Thank you very much, Professor June Aguilar, for attending. My pleasure. Good evening to everyone. Thank you very much.