Looking Back
By Ambeth R. Ocampo

Providing cultural insight through historical perspectives, Ambeth Ocampo is chairman of the National Historical Institute and a Benedictine monk. His books and essays bring history alive for the literate but non-academic public, and have earned three National Book Awards and a Catholic Mass Media Award, among others.

Sample Column:

Economic life in Manila in the 1880s
Published: August 25, 2004
Inquirer : Opinion Section

ALL schoolchildren who are forced to read Rizal’s “El Filibusterismo” know that the novel opens with a reunion of selected “Noli Me Tangere” characters on a steamer moving through the Pasig River. Rizal describes scenes inside and outside the steamer called “Vapor Tabo” because of its round shape.

When I started work on the manuscript of the “Fili” over a decade ago, I noted that the same steamer is called Batea. Where did Rizal get this name and why did he change it to Tabo? I found the answer in the travel section of the 1881 pocket guide to Manila by Juan P. Gutierrez- Gay, “Manila en el bolsillo.” Here we find a list of 21 steamers to Singapore, four steamers that plied the Manila-Cavite route (Manila, Isabel, Isabel II and Filipino) and three steamers that traveled from Manila to Laguna (Bulacan, Lipa and Batea).

While writing the “Fili,” Rizal used the name of a real steamer he probably took on trips from Laguna to Manila, but when the novel was printed the steamer’s name changed from Batea to Tabo. This is definitely useless information that will go into my annotated edition of the “Fili,” but then the rest of the data in “Manila en el bolsillo” helps us reconstruct life in the capital in the last decades of the Spanish period.

Filipino travelers today have to apply for visas in different embassies usually located in Makati. In 1881, most of the consulates were located outside Intramuros. Consuls did more than issue visas in those days when Filipinos were not as mobile as we are today: they were in town to protect their nationals and their national interests. What struck me was that the different consuls did not live in property bought or leased by their governments. Most lived or held office in a trading house. English Consul G.H. Honey was in Smith and Co. US Consul Ed Young in Peele, Hubbell and Co. shared office space with the consul of Sweden and Norway, R. Allen-Lane. German Consul Peter Frans Kamperman was in Labhart and Co. Belgian Consul J. Ph. Hens, who also doubled as the Dutch consul, held office in G. Van Polonen and Co. Swiss Consul C.A. Keller was in Lutz and Co.

Not all shared space in a trading firm. French Consul Ernest Crampon held office in a house around the plaza of Santa Ana in Sampaloc. Portuguese Consul Antonio Hidalgo, like Mexican Consul Evaristo Batalle Hernandez, preferred the medieval air of Intramuros. Russian Consul Griswool Heron was in the plaza of Anda in Sta. Cruz, while Brazilian Consul D.C. Bellamy had no listed address.

The above list alone indicates the economic interest of various countries in the Philippines, and one wonders why no consul or representative is listed for China or Japan.“Manila en el bolsillo” is not only useful for tourist information but more as a primary source for Philippine economic history. Only three banks are listed: Banco Español Filipino (now Bank of the Philippine Islands) was located at No. 30 Cabildo, Intramuros, while its two English competitors were outside the walls. The Chartered Bank of India,
Australia and China (today’s Standard Chartered?) was temporarily in the trading firm of Smith and Bell and Company. The Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp. was in Peele, Hubbell and Co.

Aside from transactions with London, Paris, Hamburg, Bremen, Hong Kong, Emuy, Singapore and Spain, the English banks had telegraph service that could be used in urgent cases to remit funds to and from London. Thus, contrary to popular belief, Manila was not exactly an economic backwater at the time.

Economic interest can also be gauged from the names of the various foreign companies with offices in Manila. There were so many insurance companies for boats and fire, that reflects the main concerns of the time. For maritime insurance you could go to Aldecoa and Co., Sociedad de Seguros Maritimos Mutuos de Manila, Java Sea and Fire Insurance Co., Globe Marine Insurance
Co., Canton Insurance Co., Société Française de Prets a la Grosse de Paris, Holliday Wise and Co., Italian Lloyd, Lloyd Andaluz, Reheinish Westhal Lloyd and German Lloyd (todays Lloyd’s of London?), Liverpool Underwriters Association, Merchant Shipping and Underwriters Association of Melbourne, Schweiz Transport Versicherungs Gesellscaft, Zurich andmany more. For fire insurance, there were 46 companies listed and probably more that didn’t advertise in the pocket guide to Manila. If we haven’t changed very much in the past century, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many fly-by-night insurance firms even then.

Speaking of fire, there was a lot in Manila particularly in areas where houses were made of nipa. All it needed was summer heat or a lighted cigarette thrown in the right place to burn an entire district down. This is why people in bigger homes were encouraged to use tile instead of nipa for roofing, but during earthquakes people also got killed by falling bricks. Thus, people shifted to galvanized iron sheets that absorbed heat and, of course, flew off during typhoons.

Banana trees were planted in between nipa huts because they were believed to retard fire. In the worst-case scenario, people were advised to throw banana trunks into the flames to douse the fire. If all else failed, they were advised to get insurance.

Life was indeed so simple in the 19th century.

* * *
Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu