by Rose Churma
The series depicts the lives of children through five crucial eras of Philippine history and provides glimpses of the country’s significant events that impacted its culture. An engaging way to teach Philippine history to pre-schoolers, the storyline of each book is presented from the point of view of a young child.
The books are written by Augie Rivera with different illustrators and graphic artists for each book. Presented in both Tagalog and English, the book series were published by Adarna House and UNICEF.
Diwayen (pre-Hispanic times)
During the pre-hispanic times when the Philippines consisted of independent kingdoms, the prologue of this book explains that the Tagalog and Bisaya societies had slaves called alipin or olipon—the lowest level in the social rankings.
There were two types of slaves. There were those who were allowed to build their own homes and marry, while there were those who lived with their owners and could be sold.
Our protagonist in this story is a young girl named Diwayen.
Diwayen was pawned by her parents due to a famine in their village. Locusts had destroyed the harvest, and most families had to sell their children in exchange for money and to pay for their living expenses.
Diwayen ended up being a slave to a datu. She helped with household chores and served as a playmate to the datu’s daughter. Eventually, due to her bravery in saving the princess from harm, the datu granted her freedom, and she was able to rejoin her family.
Illustrated by Paolo Lim, the illustrations are in transparent watercolor in hues of green and brown that beautifully capture the silhouettes of what the indigenous villages and their interior spaces may have looked like during those days.
Segunda, (Spanish Colonial era)
The Philippines was colonized by Spain for three hundred years. During the Spanish regime, there was no formal system of education. The closest that instructions given were in the form of catechisms, usually done by the parish priests, but eventually expanded to maestros.
In teaching the catechism, a katon is used. This is a small book that contains the alphabet and prayers of the Catholic Church. Usually, only the male children of well-to-do families are included in the instructions.
In this book, Segunda, the daughter of a rich family’s laundry woman, learns to read, write, and count.
Her unlikely teacher is the rich family’s son, Felipe, who teaches her reading, writing, and arithmetic, transmitting to his curious pupil what his maestro has taught him.
In return, Segunda teaches Felipe how to climb any mango tree and how to spin a top well.
The graphic artist for this book is Isabel “Pepper” Roxas. The illustrations are “cartoonish” in style, where the characters have disproportionally large heads. The clothing reflects the style of that era, and despite the simple line drawings that were adopted for this book, one can glimpse the typical wardrobe of those times.
Juanito (American era)
During the American colonial period, the sugar planters of Hawai’i, which was then an American territory, needed workers to work in their plantations. Filipinos were recruited by the promise of bettering their economic status.
In the book’s preface, it is noted that in 1923, 787 children arrived in Hawai’i to work in the plantations. The children experienced abuse from the long working hours, which deprived them of the time for learning and play, necessary activities for their health.
Juanito, our protagonist in this book, was the son of a duma’an or a permanent hacienda worker in Negros Island in the Philippines. Juanito was 12 years old when he left the Philippines for Hawai’i in 1923.
Upon reaching Hawai’i, the new recruits were brought to Waimea, where they met other workers from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. Due to the harsh conditions in the plantations, Juanito’s father went back home after his three-year contract was done, but Juanito, now renamed Johnny, opted to stay and learned new skills.
The book’s graphics were done by Jose Miguel Tejido. Unfortunately, he chose to use clay figurines to support the storyline.
But the clay figurines are so ugly they distract readers from appreciating the book—a real disservice to the stories of the sakada—the Filipino plantation workers of Hawai‘i.
Pitong (Japanese Occupation)
Soon after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, the bombing of several cities in the Philippines took place such as Baguio and Davao. By December 26, Manila was declared an “open city” to prevent its destruction.
Pitong and his family evacuated to what they believed would be a safer place when news of the arrival of Japanese forces reached the countryside.
This book describes how the children coped with the ongoing war, from scavenging for food due to its scarcity and the innovative ways the family had to survive despite the brutality of the conquerors and the uncertainties of the times.
The illustrator Marcus Nada used whimsical sketches to depict wartime Philippines.
Despite the serious content of the storyline, there is humor in the illustrations, such as when the family had to join the pigs in the truck bed when they evacuated to a safer place, with Tatay, Nanay and Pitong showing contrasting expressions.
Jhun-Jhun (before martial law)
The 1970s were a time of protest and demonstrations on the urban streets. In January 1970, labor groups and students rallied in front of Malacanang Palace to protest unfair labor laws and injustice in the land. Six people died in that protest, but the growing unrest continued such that by September 1972, Martial Law was declared.
Jhun-Jhun, our protagonist, observes the activities of his older brother, who is an active participant in the protests. When his older brother disappears, Jhun-Jhun and his family search the military camps for his brother’s whereabouts.
The bloody demonstrations and their aftermath are described from a young child’s perspective and their impact on the personal lives of the people and families.
The illustrator is Brian Vallesteros, and the images of those days are captured well in his choice of medium, which looks like pastel pencils. Symbolic images of those times serve as a backdrop to the characters’ close-up portraits and the action figures.
UNICEF supported these books in its efforts to disseminate to families the rights of children to education, health, and protection from harm, among others.
Clearly, storytelling is one of the more effective ways for imparting these abstractions to those who need it most.
ROSE CRUZ CHURMA established Kalamansi Books & Things three decades ago. It has evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the Philippines and those written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at kalamansibooks@gmail.com.
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