Recuerdos de Revolucion na Zamboanga: How the Philippine Revolution in Zamboanga is Commemorated

Abstract

This study aims to find and analyze the past and present measures in memorializing to the public the events of the Philippine Revolution in Zamboanga. Although attempts to commemorate the events relating to the Philippine Revolution in Zamboanga had been in place as early as the 1900s although from an American victorious perspective, a resurgence of interest in the subject emerged after the 1998 centennial celebrations with several academic publications, local and national legislations, and local government commemorations, most of which elevate Vicente Alvarez as Zamboanga City’s “revolutionary hero”. Such measures contribute to a biased version of the narrative. Therefore, these memorialization efforts should be appraised as they raise more questions and issues, namely: the limited use of other primary and secondary sources such as Spanish sources, American records, and Philippine Insurgent Records; the proposal to change the date of the Philippine Independence Day from June 12 to May 18; and the existence of the so-called “La Independiente Republica de Zamboanga.” A re-examination of the narratives portrayed by these public memorialization efforts through the lens of the politics of memory holds the key to tracing Zamboanga’s memories of the Philippine Revolution. Further studies must be conducted to deepen the understanding of these memories from both local and foreign perspectives to enrich and solidify its public memorialization efforts.