A Fun Contribution

The book gives us 13 essays about often untold stories from the Philippines’ past, showing how Filipinos are strange humans, too. To be clear, I use the term “strange” in an endearing, non-ironic way. Filipinos can be as elegant yet cumbersome as galleons, as crafty as OFW gangsters, as scary as giant crocodiles, and as funny as the disease the Americans once called “Philippinitis”—akin to “senioritis”, or the lack of motivation suffered by graduating students. Read the book to learn more. 

The Philippines needs more manuscripts like Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves. 

In addition to the humanizing quirks that it reminds us of, Mangubat’s book adds variety to how Filipinos can view the past. Here is a list of some titles and my brief descriptions of them:  

1. “Auroran Gods” – something about spirits and luck 

2. “Baseball Country” – sports; self-explanatory 

3. “You Otter Get Rich in Manila” – otters and money in the Philippines 

4. “Conceiving Concepcion” – an immigration story 

5. “Seven Months of Darkness” – dark clouds and a volcano 

6. “Aguilas Aztecas” – Mexicans  

See how those titles somewhat expand an ordinary Filipino’s historical world. Suddenly, Philippine history is about more than just the struggles of Rizal, Bonifacio, Aguinaldo, and Manuel L. Quezon—the “heroes” and “villains”, the “oppressed” and “oppressors”. We are invited to witness a kind of Philippine history that avoids being jingoistic, drawing national pride from the battles Filipinos won against foreigners.

At this point, it’s no longer just about quirkiness. It’s about variety. Mangubat’s work offers a gentle reminder that Philippine history is far more than just the final decades of the 1800s, the American takeover, the Second World War, and the Marcos Dictatorship, not that these are unimportant. It’s just that there is more to our Southeast Asian history than these watershed moments. 

In fact, we already know this is the case, in theory. History is vast and complicated. But Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves brings this to life with stories that we might otherwise disregard amid the abundance of mainstream narratives. It’s a different way of expressing freedom. After all, a truly free people can crack jokes and afford to be flippant. (Or do we Filipinos not have that right yet?) 

Speaking of bringing history to life, Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves is told in a casual tone. Not to dismiss the usual academic or traditional historical writing styles—but Mangubat presents an accessible yet educated, conversational narration of events. He brings history to the normal person, and he does so with sentences and paragraphs that are easy and fun to read, without being simplistic. 

As I am not a historian, I cannot speak much about the finer details of the book’s research and sources. But as a reader with, I hope, a bit of common sense, I can say that Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves contains believable stories. And I would claim that most of these stories are far more plausible than many influential manuscripts, essays, television shows, documentaries, and perspectives that have shaped how Filipinos view their history for decades.  

Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves started in the podcast Colonial Department. 

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