Writing in June 1889, the Manila-based correspondent for La Solidaridad listed down the calamities afflicting the archipelago: cholera, fires, earthquakes, and economic ruin. In those days, even the sky seemed to be on fire. Our reporter told his ilustrado readers in faraway Europe that standing in the shade in Manila would give you no comfort, because the temperature was 39 degrees. 39 degrees!

How did the way we talk about and think about heat change our culture and our history? For the 100th episode of The Colonial Dept., join us in a journey that takes us from a Roman poem to a Rizal essay, from economics to fashion to plain old discrimination. Bring along your pamaypay or your Jisu fan if you must; history is going to get a little hot!

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References:

Strabo (1917). Geography, Volume I: Books 1-2 (Horace Leonard Jones, trans.). Harvard University Press.

Ovid (1964). Metamorphoses (Rolfe Humphries, trans.) Indiana University Press.

Belamide, Aidel Paul G. (2020). “Rise and Decline of the Coffee Industry in 19th-Century Batangas: Causes and Consequences.” Philippine Social Sciences Review, 72(2), pp. 1-42.

Algue, Rev. Jose (1904). “Bulletin 2: The Climate of the Philippines.” In Census of the Philippine Islands (1903), Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census.

Lucero, Todd Sales (1 May 2024). “Heat in Pinoy history.” The Freeman. https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2024/05/01/2351767/heat-pinoy-history

Singh, Deepti; Seager, Richard; Cook, Benjamin I.; Cane, Mark; Ting, Mingfang; Cook, Edward; Davis, Michael (2018). “Climate and the Global Famine of 1876–78.” Journal of Climate, 31(23), pp. 9445–9467.

Santiago, Fernando A. Jr. (2015). “Manners of Resistance: Symbolic Defiance of Colonial Authority In Nineteenth Century Philippines.” Philippine Sociological Review, 63, pp. 137-168.

Aguilar, Filomeno V. Jr. (2025). José Rizal, Nationhood, and the Anticolonial Imagination. Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Coo, Stephanie (2019). Clothing the Colony: Nineteenth-Century Philippine Sartorial Culture, 1820-1896. Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Just the thought of commuting around Manila is enough to set one’s teeth on edge. But do our current-day problems of congestion and overcrowding have their roots in decisions and policies made a century ago?

There’s no one better to answer this question than our podcast guest today. For more than ten years, Michael Pante, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, has been researching the history of transportation, mobility, and urbanization in the capital city. He even has a forthcoming book on the topic entitled The Immobile Metropolis: A History of Motorized Transportation in Manila. In this Interview episode, Michael and I talk all about tranvias, bancas, accesorias, carromatas, and more… as well as answer a crucial question affecting the lives of millions: Can anything be done to improve how we get around?

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Thumbnail image from the Maryknoll Mission Archives, University of Southern California, via John Tewell.

The Colonial Dept. Interview is a series where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past.

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!

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References:

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-bukidnon

Kyoto 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.

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References:

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 Search

for 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?

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Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept

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References:

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-Philippines

Frühstück, 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-taiso

NPO 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/history

Chua, Karl Ian Cheng (2012). “The Stories They Tell: Komiks during the Japanese Occupation, 1942-1944.” Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 53(1), pp. 59-90

Semans, 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/thecolonialdept

Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdept

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Email us: thecolonialdept@gmail.com

The 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.