The word Bukidnon means “people of the mountains”, but historian Ronald K. Edgerton also gives another name for them: the people of the middle ground. As he writes in his book of the same name, “Many Bukidnons mastered the art of borrowing from the new without losing touch with the old. [...] And over time they developed a capacity to envision themselves [...] as negotiators between worlds, skilled at including both in a new, more accommodating world view.”This middle ground was pushed to the limit during World War II, when Japanese troops invaded the fastness of the mountains and Philippine soldiers splintered into guerrilla groups. Now, in the dark days of wartime, the Bukidnon found themselves caught in the middle of conquerors, resistance fighters, criminals, cults… and even cannibals!Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]:Edgerton, Ronald K. (2008). People of the Middle Ground: A Century of Conflict and Accommodation in Central Mindanao, 1880s-1980s. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Esteban, Rolando (2016). “Cannibalism among Japanese Soldiers in Bukidnon, Philippines, 1945–47.” Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, 52(1).Shiraz, Josie (2025). “Echoes of Defeat: The Horrors of Japanese Stragglers in Post-WWII Bukidnon.” Pacific Atrocities Education. https://www.pacificatrocities.org/blog/echoes-of-defeat-the-horrors-of-japanese-stragglers-in-post-wwii-bukidnonKyoto National Museum (undated). “Tales of Hungry Ghosts (Gaki zōshi).”  Google Arts and Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/tales-of-hungry-ghosts-gaki-soshi-kyoto-national-museum/ZQVByl-_mamPJQ?hl=en“National Treasure: Tales of Hungry Ghosts (Gaki zōshi).” Kyoto National Museum. https://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/collection/meihin/emaki/item03/

In the offbeat manga Ferdie!, Ferdinand Magellan and Antonio Pigafetta are caught up in a storm right before they arrive in the Philippines…and find themselves transported five hundred years into the future into a place that’s beyond anything they could have imagined. So what is an explorer and colonizer to do in 2020s Philippines? Why, become a content creator, of course!In this Interview episode, I talk to Ferdie! creators Julius Tabios and Jeri Llorca about their comic book. Where did this crazy idea come from? How did their understanding of the historical Magellan craft their own funny and fictional take on the famous explorer? And what does this manga have to say about social media and the modern world?Ferdie! (P450) is available at Lazada and Shopee.Disclosure: I am one of the editors of Ferdie!, and I worked closely with Julius and Jeri in developing the story for their comic. It was also published by the company I work for, Summit Books. Summit Books did not sponsor this episode.The Colonial Dept. Interview is a series where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past.

The island of Balangingi stands halfway between Borneo and Mindanao. Surrounding Balangingi were sharp reefs and surging cross-currents that would be lethal to any boatman… except for the Balangingi Samal, of course. Surrounding the main landmass were little islets that would wink in and out with the tides. On the coast were thick snarls of mangrove; in the parched interior were swaying groves of coconut. During the Spanish occupation, the Balangingi Samal—also known as the Banguingui Sama or the Sama Balangingi—visited the Philippines twice a year, raiding coastal villages across the Philippines and capturing many of their inhabitants as slaves. And then the Spanish struck back. This is the story of the rise and fall of a fierce seafaring people.Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]: Cojuangco, Tingting (1993). Kris of Valor: The Samal Balangingi’s Defiance and Diaspora. Manisan Research and Pub. Inc.Warren, James Francis (2020). “In Search of Julano Taupan: His Life and His Times.” Journal of Indian Ocean World Studies, 4, pp. 2-31.Warren, James Francis (2021). The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State (40th Anniversary Ed.). Ateneo de Manila Press.Mastura, Datu Michael Ong (2023). The Rulers of Magindanao in Modern History, 1515–1903: Continuity and Change in a Traditional Realm in the Southern Philippines. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Nimmo, H. Arlo (1968). “Reflections on Bajau History.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 16(1), pp. 32-58.Roxas-Lim, Aurora (2017). “Marine-Oriented Sama-Bajao People and Their Searchfor Human Rights.” Public Policy, 18, pp. 50-66.Cojuangco, Margarita delos Reyes (2003). “The Samal People in the Mindanao Sea, Pre-History to 1900s: A Historical Study in Ethnic Origination, Dispersion, and Migration” [doctoral dissertation]. Faculty of the Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas.Moreno, Frede (2023). “Stateless sea gypsies in Bangsamoro coastlines: Understanding the Sama Bajau ethnic tribe in the Philippines.” MPRA Paper No. 117900, pp. 1-17.Silvestre, Jojo G. (24 June 2023). “Tingting Cojuangco — Christian Espiritu’s ultimate muse.” Daily Tribune. https://tribune.net.ph/2023/06/23/tingting-cojuangco-christian-espiritus-ultimate-muse

At seven o’clock on the dot, a high-pitched Japanese voice blared out from speakers and switched-on radios all across the archipelago. The program came on like clockwork, chirping in immediately after every station signed on for the day—a cheery signal of a brand-new day under Imperial rule. In wartime Philippines, Rajio Taisō was everywhere—schools, private companies, government offices, military camps. If you browse through pictures from World War II, you can see many pictures of dozens or even hundreds of citizens stretching and twisting in unison. But how was this radio regimen baked into the lives of ordinary Filipinos from all walks of life?Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]: Jose, Ricardo Trota (1990). “The Tribune During the Japanese Occupation.” Philippine Studies, 38(1), pp. 45-64.Griggs, Alyson (2020). There Were Children on the Battleground: Japanese and Filipino Youth in the Second World War [masteral dissertation]. Utah State University.Yamashita, Samuel (2023). “Understanding Daily Life in Wartime Japan, 1937-1945.” Education About Asia, 28(2). https://www.asianstudies.org/publications/eaa/archives/understanding-daily-life-in-wartime-japan-1937-1945/Bigcas, Deana; Javate, Bianca (undated). "Radio Taiso: The Birth of Community Morning Exercises in the Philippines During the Height of the Japanese Occupation." Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/document/488287830/Radio-Callisthenics-in-the-PhilippinesFrühstück, Sabine (2014). “The spirit to take up a gun: militarising gender in the Imperial Army.” In Gender, Nation and State in Modern Japan (Germer, Andrea; Mackie, Vera; Wöhr, Ulrike, eds.), Routledge.  Cabbell-Manners, Rupert (15 March 2026). “Why Tojo’s men loved him – and Japan’s far-Right still does.” The Telegraph.Tani, Fumi (20 December 2024). “The Political Rhythm of Rajio Taisō.” Ethnomusicology @ Harvey Mudd College. https://hmcethnomusicology.substack.com/p/the-political-rhythm-of-rajio-taisoNPO Japan Radio Calisthenics Federation NPO 法人全国ラジオ体操連盟. “History of Radio Calisthenics ラジオ体操の歴史.” https://www.radioexercises.org/taisou/historyChua, Karl Ian Cheng (2012). “The Stories They Tell: Komiks during the Japanese Occupation, 1942-1944.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 53(1), pp. 59-90Semans, Himari Radio (3 July 2023). “Taisō: A Nuanced History of a Nearly 100-Year-Old Tradition.” Unseen Japan. https://unseen-japan.com/radio-taiso-japan-history/

You pass by them every day: plaques of metal set onto walls and plinths, heavy with text and history. You may have wondered—how do you maintain these historical markers?A group of students in the University of the Philippines Diliman wondered the same thing. So, for their required NSTP initiative, they formed Project Panandito, a student-led project that, during the sweltering summer months of 2026, went around historical sites in Manila to clean and restore some of these markers. In this interview, I talk to them about the nuts and bolts of cleaning a plaque, what to expect in Manila when you show up to do conservation work on a hot day, how to highlight history in a time that seems determined to forget it… and why restoring a marker can actually be—therapeutic?The Colonial Dept. Interview is a series where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past.Support the podcast: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected] Colonial Dept. just celebrated its fifth birthday! To celebrate, I’m giving away discounts for new Patreon members. Subscribe now to any tier and get 50% off your first month. Just use the promo code 5YRS. To know more, go to patreon.com/thecolonialdept/membership.

Yes, Edison as in Thomas Edison, the light bulb guy. At the turn of his century, the tech wizard of Menlo Park produced thousands of movies as a showcase for his company’s vitascopes. Among those movies are five films about the Philippine-American War, produced in a flurry all throughout June of 1899. It turns out that the boom of cinema dovetailed neatly with America’s growing imperial ambitions. But what made this faraway war so compelling for wide-eyed audiences captured by the magic of the silver screen?Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]:Rafael, Vicente (2016). Motherless Tongues: The Insurgency of Language Amid Wars of Translation. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Palis, Joseph (2009). “The ethnographic spectacle of the ‘other’ Filipinos in early cinema.” GeoJournal, 74, pp. 227-234.Robbins, Dylon Lamar (13 July 2017). “War, Modernity, and Motion in the Edison Films of 1898.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 26(3). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569325.2017.1292222#d1e122Brewer, Susan A. (1 October 2013). “Selling Empire: American Propaganda and War in the Philippines.” Asian Pacific Journal, 11(40). https://apjjf.org/2013/11/40/susan-a-brewer/4002/articleWalker, Malea (6 February 2024). “The Spanish American War and the Yellow Press.” Library of Congress Blogs. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2024/02/the-spanish-american-war-and-the-yellow-press/“Advance of Kansas Volunteers at Caloocan.” Library of Congress“History of Edison Motion Pictures.” (undated) Library of Congress Blinkhorn, Martin (1980). “Spain: The ‘Spanish Problem’ and the Imperial Myth.” Journal of Contemporary History, 15(1), pp. 5-25.Paterson, Thomas G. (1996). “United States Intervention in Cuba, 1898: Interpretations of the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War.” The History Teacher, 29(3), pp. 341-361.Ocampo, Ambeth (19 March 2013). “Treasure trove in thick books.” Philippine Daily Inquirer.Ocampo, Ambeth (21 March 2013). “An Igorot in the Philippine-American War.” Philippine Daily Inquirer.Legarda, Benito J., Jr. (2001). The Hills of Sampaloc: The Opening Actions of the Philippine-American War, February 4-5, 1899. The Bookmark, Inc.Angeles, Jose Amiel P. (2013). As Our Might Grows Less: The Philippine-American War in Context [Ph.D. dissertation]. Department of History, Graduate School of the History of Oregon.

When you pulled up to the dock, they were there waiting for you, those holy men of God.But beyond inspecting ships that docked in the ports of Manila and Cavite for blasphemers and banned items, the Inquisition in the Philippines also investigated Protestants. Jews. Masons. Muslims. Non-Catholic Christian sects, like Armenian Christians or Jansenists. Its investigators monitored cases of heresy, blasphemy, apostasy, bigamy, and contempt. They kept tabs on witches, sorcerers, palm readers, fortune tellers, astrologers, and peddlers of superstition. And they dutifully recorded all their investigations and sent them to their head office in Mexico.What tales can we uncover from these inquisitorial files? And what do they say about the practice of faith in our archipelago?Support the podcast: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]:Galleons and Social Control in the Spanish Empire: The Contrabandistas: Defenders of “Free Trade” on the Manila-Acapulco Galleons, Volume IV. (2025) National Historical Commission of the Philippines.Angeles, F. Delor (1980) "The Philippine Inquisition: A Survey." Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, (28)3, pp. 253-283.Cunningham, Charles H. (1918). “The Inquisition in the Philippines: The Salcedo Affair.” The Catholic Historical Review, 3(4), pp. 417-445.Bonilla & Santos Garcia (1583). “Instructions to the Commissary of the Inquisition.” In Blair, Emma Helen, and Robertson, James Alexander (eds.), The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol. 40), Arthur H. Clark Company, 57.Mawson, Stephanie Joy (2023). “Folk magic in the Philippines, 1611-39.” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 54(2), pp. 1-25.

What kind of city was waiting for Dutch scholar Gerret Pieter Rouffaer when he got to Manila?After more than a decade of occupation, the Americans had given the colonial capital some thorough nips and tucks. Aside from the glimmering roads and shady plazas, the Americans also laid down more tramways. Trams were already up and running during the latter part of the Spanish occupation, but in 1905, the US rehabilitated the old system. Unlike the old Spanish versions, these new streetcars barrelled along on double-wheeled trucks and could fit fifty people. They also ran on electricity. When Rouffaer arrived in the Philippines, he took the tranvia everywhere, and wrote down his snarky observations in a diary. Let’s see what he had to say.Support the podcast: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]:Muijzenberg, Otto Van Den (ed., trans.) (2016). Colonial Manila 1909-1912: Three Dutch Travel Accounts. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Rodell, Paul A. (1974). “Philippine ‘Seditious Plays.’” Asian Studies, 12(1), pp. 88-118.Pante, Michael D. (2016). “Urban Mobility and a Healthy City Intertwined Transport and Public Health Policies in American-Colonial Manila.” Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints, 64(1), pp. 73-101.Morley, Ian (2016). “Modern Urban Designing in the Philippines, 1898–1916.” Philippine Studies: Historical & Ethnographic Viewpoints, 64(1), pp. 3-42.Gardini, Ashley (8 July 2025). “Daniel Burnham in the Philippines.” JSTOR Daily. Cubeiro, Didac (2017). “Modernizing the Colony: Ports in Colonial Philippines, 1880-1908.” World History Connected.RailwaysPh. “Tranvías de Manila y Corregidor: Notable Heritage Tram Systems” (15 November 2020). Renacimiento Manila.Sison, Norman (21 April 2015). “LRT expansions remind of tranvia days.” Vera Files. Scott, William Henry (1984). Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (revised edition). New Day Publishers.

“There’s a message to it: It’s our responsibility to keep Filipino food popular!”At the launch for her book What Recipes Don’t Tell: Philippine Food History in Fifty Words, author and historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria talked to a rapt audience at the Philippine Book Festival about a long career of writing about food. What new things can food tell us about our own history? How did we adapt techniques and ingredients from abroad… while still preserving our own? And how should we nurture this knowledge for future generations?Joining her in this panel were publisher and editor Karina Bolasco, graphic designer and fellow food scholar Ige Ramos, and printmaker Marz Aglipay. Through their shared history with Felice, they deepened the conversation with their own perspectives on creativity, design, and the space for food in the publishing landscape. Special thanks to the Ateneo de Manila University Press for inviting me to moderate this panel, and for letting me record this conversation.Support the podcast: patreon.com/thecolonialdeptFollow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected] Colonial Dept. Interview is a series where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past.

Sourness, according to Doreen Fernandez, “is a favored Philippine flavor.” Just how sour is sour? “Sour enough to savor, to make the lips pucker and the eyes squint slightly, and yet not too sour—just at the point of perfection.”In the spectrum of sensation, sourness can be both sharp and sudden, an acetic shudder down the spine. Asim, the Tagalogs call it. From the earliest written records about the Philippines, it is this taste that has come to define our cooking. “Spanish colonials from the 1500s through the 1800s described indio food as primarily salty and sour,” writes food historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria. “Both tastes can induce sweat in hot climates and remind the body to keep hydrated and its electrolytes balanced.” Let us trace the pathways of this taste as it evolved in three key dishes: sinigang, kinilaw, and adobo.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: [email protected]:Sta. Maria, Felice Prudente (2025). What Recipes Don't Tell: Philippine Food History in Fifty Words. Ateneo de Manila University Press.Fernandez, Doreen G. (1988). “Culture Ingested: Notes on the Indigenization of Philippine Food.” Philippine Studies, 36(2), pp. 219-232.Fernandez, Doreen G. (1994). Tikim: Essays on Philippine Food and Culture. Anvil Publishing.Frank, Hannah E. R.; Amato, Katie; Trautwein, Michelle; Maia, Paula; Liman, Emily R.; Nichols; Lauren M.; Schwenk, Kurt; Breslin, Paul A. S.; Dunn, Robert R. (2022)  “The evolution of sour taste.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1968). https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article/289/1968/20211918/79292/The-evolution-of-sour-tasteEvolution-of-Sour-TasteShaw, Sterling V. Herrera (30 August 2024). “Adobo is ‘paksiw,’ and other terms in Filipino food history.” Philippine Daily Inquirer. Ladrido, R.C. (1 July 2022). “Tapayan, Gusi, or Martaban: Tales of Stoneware Jars in the Philippines.” VERA Files.Newman, Yasmin (11 May 2023). “Kinilaw, the age-old dish of the Philippines (and why it's not ceviche).” SBS Food. https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/kinilaw-the-age-old-dish-of-the-philippines-and-why-its-not-ceviche/4alb6pswaTrinidad, Bea. (16 August 2025). “Say ‘kilawin’ instead of ‘Filipino ceviche’, okay?” The Philippine Star. https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/2025/08/16/2465728/say-kilawin-instead-filipino-ceviche-okayBanez, George (31 August 2025). “Sinigang Through Time: The Filipino Sour Soup with Many Faces, One Soul.” Pressenza PhilippinesPigafetta, Antonio (ca. 1525). “Primo viaggio intorno al mondo.” In Blair, Emma Helen, and Robertson, James Alexander (eds.), The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 (Vol. 33), Arthur H. Clark Company.Wertz, S.K. (2013). “The Elements of Taste: How Many Are There?” The Journal of Aesthetic Education,47(1), pp. 46-57 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jaesteduc.47.1.0046Ferguson, Priscilla Parkhurst (2011). “The Senses of Taste.” American Historical Review, 116(2), pp. 371-384. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23307701