Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Pre-colonial Heritage

In the history of nations, it is vital to understand the underlying pulse that beats in the course of its experience and narrative. Such is the story of the Filipino nation and its people – their aspiration and quest for identity and consciousness. For many centuries, the forces of the so-called “benevolent imperialism” and “pedagogical imperialism” had swept through the Philippine landscape. With the coming of the Spaniards and the Americans, the Filipino was subjugated and oppressed into a docile and lethargic ignoramus.

One recurrent issue in the study and interpretation of Philippine history is the presentation of viewpoint of the historians’ narrative: Euro-centric versus Asian-centric historiography, colonial history versus anti-colonial/nationalist history. Aside from the problematic dichotomy of viewpoints, the Filipino historian realizes that he is facing a daunting task of sifting through a plethora of primary sources written by the colonial Other. Is it possible then to write a history of the Filipino people from his own viewpoint?

This paper looks into the seminal book of F. Landa Jocano Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Pre-colonial Heritage (1998). At the core of his book, Jocano delves into the problems of “events long-forgotten” and the “incomplete picture” of the prehistoric/pre-colonial past. The aim, ultimately, is to challenge the status quo by proposing a new course of action grounded on sound nationalist paradigms to attain genuinely social change and the emancipation of the Filipinos from historical animosity and “cultural amnesia” by way of education as a liberating process of rectifying the distortions of the past.

In the words of Jocano: “To know the past is to acquire a sense of pride that our ancestors did not lack the wisdom and the resolve to carve a civilization out of the precarious prehistoric environment.” He adds, “It is to our advantage to learn lessons from this wisdom, resolve, and past experiences if we are to secure the pathways of our current and future developments. The vision of the future must be rooted in the image of the past. It is the past that dignifies the present and gives the future its fundamental form and character. To be proud of the past is to be prepared to meet the contemporary challenge of progress – the challenges of moral commitment to nation-building.”

The book is divided into three parts. Part I – Questions and Challenges include Why Prehistoric Culture; External Intrusions; Academic Reinforcements: I. Theories on Racial Origins; Academic Reinforcements: II. Migration Theory. Part II – The Setting contains Geological Foundation; Climate, Flora, and Fauna. Part III – Reconstructing the Prehistoric Culture has Mythic Phase; Formative Phase; Incipient Phase; Emergent Phase; and Baranganic Phase. Lastly, Part IV – Achievements in Civilizations includes Core Achievements; Alternative Perspective; and Conclusion: Facing the Challenge.

This book essentially elucidates: “Filipino prehistoric heritage is a culture preserved in artifacts, buried in the ground, and retrieved in fragments. It is in the human skull dug up in the inner chamber of a cave, stone tools beside fossil bones of ancient animals, broken pieces of pottery on a hillside, metal implements in an abandoned settlement, drawings on the walls of a rock shelter, gold masks and pendants in the graveyard, patinated carnelian beads and porcelain plates in a sunken ship….” Subsequently, Jocano considering the limitations identified in this work, assures the reader that it contains an important analysis of the times helpful in writing “the script of our own destiny and become principal actors rather than timid spectators on the stage of national development and nation building”.

Why study Philippine prehistory and traditions? Perhaps, the key takeaway from this book states, “our prehistoric past is the foundation of our present society; it is also the least known and understood aspect of Philippine studies.” In this book, Jocano argues that we emphasize our “repressed” original culture patterns which were not destroyed by the influx of external cultural elements (for example Islamic, Hispanic, American); rather it was just infused or enriched to suit the indigenous developments. Jocano interpreted or reconstructed Filipino prehistory and traditions using typologies anchored on local developments. Hence, the use of terms mythic phase, formative phase, incipient phase, emergent phase, and baranganic phase as categories of evolution instead of the western approaches of Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Metal age, etc. etc.

While the book contains several examples written as key argument pieces, there lies in the narrative a unifying thread of nationalist discourse. The key to Jocanos thinking is his unblinking stance toward nationalism and its role as a potent force for social change thereby espousing the assertive shakeup of society through “restoring indigenous cultural orientations to modern consciousness” and “merging modern and indigenous sociocultural orientations in defining Filipino identity”.

For Jocano, our cultural achievements should be gauged on our own terms. It is unfair for our original patterns and cultural fluorescence to be judge against the achievements of others and vice versa. He asserts that: “The earlier we do this, the sooner we can build a new moral consensus which will enable us to realize our potentials as a people so that this nation can move forward.” He adds, “Unless we do this, we will never recapture our moral strength, nor develop the political will to make our nation move forward. It is in the awareness of our past accomplishments that we can secure the foundation of our contemporary institutions that we can look forward to standing at par with the rest of the world.”

There are different types of a framework to view our “core achievements” introspective of the fact that these are accomplished/achieved in the context of our ancestor’s response to environmental and local challenges. This is so because the critics and the naysayers posit the notion that we do not have, for example, monuments such as pyramids or Parthenon compared to other civilizations. Jocano pointed, however, that ours is not an urban civilization. Rather, it should be considered as a nonurban type of civilization. Our Rice Terraces in the central Cordillera thus, represent one of the landmarks of ancient Filipino civilization.

Identity plus consciousness equals Filipino nationhood. Crucial therefore in the aspiration of a people toward a new paradigm that would overthrow, so to speak, the prevailing consciousness of cultural repression and colonial mentality, is a vibrant and dynamic force of change. This diwa-consciousness is necessary as it awakens the people from years of subservience from external/foreign cultural overlays.

Lastly, Jocano amplifies the need for re-examination of our understanding and interpretation of the past in relation to the present ground on Filipino prehistory and traditions from the vantage point of the Filipino people and their “true” achievements.