Last Thursday, November 28, 2024, Davao City made history by holding the first ever Davao History Conference at the Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).
What made this conference historic and remarkable is the fact that it was supported by private funds and powered by civil society leaders and volunteers. All for the love of Davao.
Yes, let me say that again — private sector-funded and citizen-led. You cannot get any more people power than that.
We harnessed our people power for good — not for any partisan political activity, but for promoting local history and culture, which we believe will benefit the entire community for generations to come.
Initiated by the Davao Historical Society (DHS), in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) Davao City Division and the Institute of Davao Studies (IDS) of the Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC), the Davao History Conference is the first major step in finally implementing City Ordinance 0330-20 series of 2020, which requires public and private schools in Davao City to include in their curriculum the teaching of the history of Davao.
As Councilor Pilar C. Braga, chair of the committee on education, culture and arts, science and technology in the City Council, said in her opening message at the conference: “This is a long time coming. I proposed this ordinance before the pandemic and it was passed while we were on lockdown mode. But it is only now, four years later, that we are starting to seriously work on it. And it is because of the initiative of the Davao Historical Society that we have reached this point.”
Councilor Braga, whose term ends in 2025, shared that she is “proud to say that this landmark legislation is being brought to life by civil society leaders and volunteers who donated their time and talents to make this happen because they believe in the essential role that history plays in our city’s development.”
Seeing our leading educators, who are also recipients of our city’s highest recognition, the Datu Bago Award, inspired the more than 150 participants and guests. Among the Datu Bago awardees who formed part of the organizing committee of the conference include leading historian, Dr. Macario D. Tiu; Dr. Luzviminda C. Ilagan; Dr. Ma. Iris A. Melliza; Dr. Marina Bello-Ruivivar; and Ms. Amalia Bandiola-Cabusao. Councilor Braga, DHS chair, is also a Datu Bago awardee.
The conference keynote speaker was Dr. Neil Martial R. Santillan, Head of the National Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), who talked about “Relevance of Local History and Perspectives on Promoting Local Heritage.”
Dr. Santillan, a professor of history at the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City, was a very engaging and passionate speaker. He begged the indulgence of the audience if he can speak in his native Bisaya (he was born and raised in Cagayan de Oro but left for Metro Manila at 16 for his higher education) because he missed speaking it. He got a delighted and enthusiastic “yes” from the participants.
It turned out Dr. Santillan’s advocacy is promoting local history and integrating it into the broader narrative of Philippine history, making him the perfect resource person to set the tone of the conference.
He made a useful differentiation between the past and history as he pointed out that the past refers to “the time before now” while history refers to “the narratives about the past composed by historians.”
Local history is defined as “the field of study that aims to reconstruct the history of any locality smaller than the nation-state.” This is what Davao City wants to do with the city ordinance requiring the teaching of local history in all schools because there is hardly any narrative on Davao and Mindanao in our Philippine history.
And Dr. Santillan is happy that Davao is taking the lead in doing this as he shared five constraints and challenges of our national history:
One, the primacy of political narratives. Our Philippine history is dominated by facts and figures about what happened in our politics and government — who was the president during what period, which political party dominated and lost, who were the political rivals, etc. It is as if that was all that mattered and nothing else.
Two, the dominance of colonial histories. The periodization used in chronicling our history is using the timeline on when we were colonized by which foreign power and what they brought to us. It is as if we did not exist before we were “discovered” by them and that any “development” that occurred was because of our colonizers.
Three, privileging of elite-centric perspectives. I think it is a fair assessment that our national history narratives were mostly shaped by elitist views. History from the perspective of the Filipino masses seldom make it to our textbooks or mainstream discussions.
Four, the focus on the role of men. This point I strongly agree with. Women are mostly invisible in our national history. Sure, there are a handful of female heroes like Gabriela Silang and Tandang Sora but most of the women are portrayed as having only supporting parts (wives, mistresses, sisters, mothers, daughters) reinforcing traditional gender roles under the patriarchy. The men could not possibly have done all of that by themselves. After all, women are half of the population. History cannot be all about the men only.
Five, emphasis on lowland Christianized Filipinos. Like women, our indigenous peoples and our Muslim Filipinos are marginalized from our national history. Because our indigenous communities share their stories through oral tradition, there are hardly written histories about them and they are not included in our Philippine history.
The talk of Dr. Santillan affirmed what Davaoeños are embarking on starting with the Davao History Conference. There is, indeed, significant gaps in our national history that can be filled and enriched by exploring, documenting, and teaching our local history.
As ADDU Executive Vice-President Jeremy S. Eliab said in his welcome remarks: “Teaching local history enables our students to see themselves in the broader narrative of our nation, fostering a deeper sense of identity, pride, and responsibility towards our Davao City community.”
There is so much more to Davao than durian and Duterte as Dr. Santillan noted. We agree. That is why we are writing and telling our stories from the diverse perspectives of all kinds of Davaoeños. We hope our political leaders take their cue from the people and realize that it is about us, not them.
