Retrato: Filipinas Photo Collection

[Virtute]

Originally Posted by pau_p1

virtute.. that was a nice historical backrounder for the picture... well i guess its in the nature of Filipinos to join the strong and fight against its brothers... it is evident to contemporary Filipinos who stripped their Filipino citizenship to join the US Army and US Navy to fight for Uncle Sam... some even came to Mindanao to join the Phil-US Military exercises...

I guess it's safe to say that some of these Filipinos who were in the Spanish Army (ie. 73rd All Filipino Regiment, but not the only all Filipino Regiment) that had a hand in helping defeat Aguinaldo, forcing the Revolucionarios to make a peace treaty and be exciled (Biak na Bato). They (Filipinos in the Spanish Army) finally woke up the second time and joined Aguinaldo when he came back from HongKong to restart the Revolution. Many paid with their lives defeating the Spanish and then losing to a new superior enemy, the Americans.

Also to note from what I heard according to Spanish historians, a large percentage of the Spanish sailors who died when U.S. Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay were actually Filipinos in the Spanish Navy.

I think the most traitorous part in the history of that era were the Macabebe Troops and the Filipino Constabulary Troops under the Americans who joined knowing they had to fight the remnants of Aguinaldo's guerilla army. This is totally a different situation and no excuse. That is why when the "Revolucionarios" who were composed of ordinary Filipino men and ex-Spanish Army soldiers, would sometimes write, "Traidor de la Patria," on the forehead of who they assassinate. Meaning Traitor of the country/mother-land.

[Virtute]

Originally Posted by pau_p1

virtute.. that was a nice historical backrounder for the picture... well i guess its in the nature of Filipinos to join the strong and fight against its brothers... it is evident to contemporary Filipinos who stripped their Filipino citizenship to join the US Army and US Navy to fight for Uncle Sam... some even came to Mindanao to join the Phil-US Military exercises...

I guess it's safe to say that some of these Filipinos who were in the Spanish Army (ie. 73rd All Filipino Regiment, but not the only all Filipino Regiment) that had a hand in helping defeat Aguinaldo, forcing the Revolucionarios to make a peace treaty and be exciled (Biak na Bato). They (Filipinos in the Spanish Army) finally woke up the second time and joined Aguinaldo when he came back from HongKong to restart the Revolution. Many paid with their lives defeating the Spanish and then losing to a new superior enemy, the Americans.

Also to note from what I heard according to Spanish historians, a large percentage of the Spanish sailors who died when U.S. Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay were actually Filipinos in the Spanish Navy.

I think the most traitorous part in the history of that era were the Macabebe Troops and the Filipino Constabulary Troops under the Americans who joined knowing they had to fight the remnants of Aguinaldo's guerilla army. This is totally a different situation and no excuse. That is why when the "Revolucionarios" who were composed of ordinary Filipino men and ex-Spanish Army soldiers, would sometimes write, "Traidor de la Patria," on the forehead of who they assassinate. Meaning Traitor of the country/mother-land.

[Thunderflip]

Very classic.Reminds me of some European city.By the way,does the Miguel Lopez de Legaspi Monument still stand?It looks so beautiful,to be honest more beautiful than the Rizal Monument.Was it destoyed during WWII?Looking through these pics, you can see how far developed the nation was back then.We had an international port and links to the west, we almost had everything.Ahead of many Asian nations.If you would compare a Manila pic to a Tokyo image of the late 1800's, you would notice that the infastructure and development of the two nations were at par.What a shame,if Manila wasn't bombed during the war, it would have been another Rome, Prague or Budapest in terms of architecture.Too bad,we only have Intramuros left.It would have been wonderful if the heart of Manila would have been filled with Gothic churches, Spanish colonial houses, American-inspired neoclassical monument buildings and wide pedestrian alleys with huge and leafy trees that would cover you from the heat of the sun.To bad, the Manila we know today is full of slums,crowded, traffic highways,urban buildings, the last hideaway are the malls,which actually get pretty boring after a while.Sayang talaga.For me,these buildings were one of the biggest losses after the war.

[Thunderflip]

Very classic.Reminds me of some European city.By the way,does the Miguel Lopez de Legaspi Monument still stand?It looks so beautiful,to be honest more beautiful than the Rizal Monument.Was it destoyed during WWII?Looking through these pics, you can see how far developed the nation was back then.We had an international port and links to the west, we almost had everything.Ahead of many Asian nations.If you would compare a Manila pic to a Tokyo image of the late 1800's, you would notice that the infastructure and development of the two nations were at par.What a shame,if Manila wasn't bombed during the war, it would have been another Rome, Prague or Budapest in terms of architecture.Too bad,we only have Intramuros left.It would have been wonderful if the heart of Manila would have been filled with Gothic churches, Spanish colonial houses, American-inspired neoclassical monument buildings and wide pedestrian alleys with huge and leafy trees that would cover you from the heat of the sun.To bad, the Manila we know today is full of slums,crowded, traffic highways,urban buildings, the last hideaway are the malls,which actually get pretty boring after a while.Sayang talaga.For me,these buildings were one of the biggest losses after the war.

[Hawayano]

Virtute~
Thanks for posting the very informative and romantic pics. As most everyone else in here said, these show Manila when it had a wealth of attractions and was a more manageable city. Only one mis-ID: the neo-gothic church with the people riding calesas along the side: that's the old Santo Domingo (by architect Felix Rojas) in Intramuros that was one of Manila's first casualties of WW2; Japanese planes bombed it along with the Intendencia and other Walled City sites close to the Pasig in December, 1941. Too bad the Dominicans close to sell out after the war and move to Espana...the post-war church is no comparison.

[Hawayano]

Virtute~
Thanks for posting the very informative and romantic pics. As most everyone else in here said, these show Manila when it had a wealth of attractions and was a more manageable city. Only one mis-ID: the neo-gothic church with the people riding calesas along the side: that's the old Santo Domingo (by architect Felix Rojas) in Intramuros that was one of Manila's first casualties of WW2; Japanese planes bombed it along with the Intendencia and other Walled City sites close to the Pasig in December, 1941. Too bad the Dominicans close to sell out after the war and move to Espana...the post-war church is no comparison.

[Virtute]

Originally Posted by Hawayano

Virtute~
Thanks for posting the very informative and romantic pics. As most everyone else in here said, these show Manila when it had a wealth of attractions and was a more manageable city. Only one mis-ID: the neo-gothic church with the people riding calesas along the side: that's the old Santo Domingo (by architect Felix Rojas) in Intramuros that was one of Manila's first casualties of WW2; Japanese planes bombed it along with the Intendencia and other Walled City sites close to the Pasig in December, 1941. Too bad the Dominicans close to sell out after the war and move to Espana...the post-war church is no comparison.

Thanks for the correction. I'll edit the caption correctly.

[Virtute]

Originally Posted by Hawayano

Virtute~
Thanks for posting the very informative and romantic pics. As most everyone else in here said, these show Manila when it had a wealth of attractions and was a more manageable city. Only one mis-ID: the neo-gothic church with the people riding calesas along the side: that's the old Santo Domingo (by architect Felix Rojas) in Intramuros that was one of Manila's first casualties of WW2; Japanese planes bombed it along with the Intendencia and other Walled City sites close to the Pasig in December, 1941. Too bad the Dominicans close to sell out after the war and move to Espana...the post-war church is no comparison.

Thanks for the correction. I'll edit the caption correctly.

[SunKing]

The Luneta:

[SunKing]

The Luneta:

[Thunderflip]

Manila Tram in Escolta circa 1900

[Thunderflip]

Manila Tram in Escolta circa 1900

[mysaong03]

i notice that girls, or most people in general has much darker skin tone compared to us or to our generation today (wala pa kasing bleach non, just kidding). well obviuosly, multi-racial na kasi tayo coz most of our grandparents (mostly those in the upper-middle class & urban areas) married mestizos.

yeah, those miniboats on the pics also resemble today's bangkok, meron din pala tayo nyan? it's amazing!!!

the old san juan de dios site is where my sch currently stands.(lyceum)

im starting to think 'what ifs' that would have then changed the course our history...

1 what if we werent colonized by spain? could we have ended up islamic? but what if other europeans other than spaniards colonized us??

2 what if spain has managed us in a good way?? -like teaching everyone to spaek spanish, & taught us effective governance & education like the americans, & the latter has never entered the picture? oh man, that cud hav been so weird...

2 what if WW2 never happened, & the 10-yr commonwealth transition has been successful? manila could have been really really nice maybe...

3 what if japan successfully invaded us & our neighbors, could japan & its colonies have ended up to be first world & ultra-modern as what the present japan is today??

4 what if ferdinand marcos havent declared martial law, & assuming either benigno aquino or osmena was elected the new president, could we have kept our status as the second richest in asia competing 'head-on' w/ japan, instead of japan facing south koreA???

wala lang... i know, some of u would find it not too sensible, but what if???

[mysaong03]

i notice that girls, or most people in general has much darker skin tone compared to us or to our generation today (wala pa kasing bleach non, just kidding). well obviuosly, multi-racial na kasi tayo coz most of our grandparents (mostly those in the upper-middle class & urban areas) married mestizos.

yeah, those miniboats on the pics also resemble today's bangkok, meron din pala tayo nyan? it's amazing!!!

the old san juan de dios site is where my sch currently stands.(lyceum)

im starting to think 'what ifs' that would have then changed the course our history...

1 what if we werent colonized by spain? could we have ended up islamic? but what if other europeans other than spaniards colonized us??

2 what if spain has managed us in a good way?? -like teaching everyone to spaek spanish, & taught us effective governance & education like the americans, & the latter has never entered the picture? oh man, that cud hav been so weird...

2 what if WW2 never happened, & the 10-yr commonwealth transition has been successful? manila could have been really really nice maybe...

3 what if japan successfully invaded us & our neighbors, could japan & its colonies have ended up to be first world & ultra-modern as what the present japan is today??

4 what if ferdinand marcos havent declared martial law, & assuming either benigno aquino or osmena was elected the new president, could we have kept our status as the second richest in asia competing 'head-on' w/ japan, instead of japan facing south koreA???

wala lang... i know, some of u would find it not too sensible, but what if???

[Thunderflip]

You know, I've thought about that a gazillion times already. Even without bleaching, people of today tend to go lighter, it is because of evolution, people change physically.
Back then. where people were very dark-skinned and very native-looking, it is obvious why we were reffered as Indios.Today, most of us are refferes as Mongoloid Asians coy we kinda turned lighter and more oriental-looking due to the huge impact of Chinese immigrants to the country. It is obvious that today, almost every Filipino has
Hispanic, Chinese, Indian or American genes.

Those boats are legacies we inherited from the Malays, I dunno if they are still used today.


1) If we wern't colonized by Spain, we would have most likely ended up as an Islamic nation, probably similar to Indonesia and we woudn't be unique having great gothic, medieval and Spanish architecture anymore. We were attempted so many times to be captured by the Dutch, the British and the French. Manila was under British rule fro a couple of years.It was the British who introduced English in the 1700's, not the Americans.

2) That would have never happend. Spain, England, Netherlands and France were brutal colonial powers who commited a lot of slaughtery in their own colonies. Be glad, we did not end up like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile or even Puetro Rico where there are barely any natives left. They were the ones who taught us to be unfair, brutal and corrupt. Remember, colonial leaders always managed to degrade the natives of their colonies and put them down to have control over them. They forced them to think that they were inferior human beings and even used the name of Christianity to keep them under power.Only every 10th Filipino could speak Spanish during these times and not too many natives mixed with whites, and if, these. half-casts integrated in the white society as well.There were not so many westeners who migrated in the country since it had a very far route and it was not attractive as its South American counterparts.And most Europeans decents that were left were mostly slaughtered by the Japanese during WW2, others migrated out of the country.

3) If WW2 never happend, Manila would resemble a European city, like Prague, Rome, Milan or Berlin.The Spanish architecture and churches would have given the city a Rome touch, while the government area would have resembles Washington DC. Some thought is that the Philippines would alöso have ended up as a US ctate or still a self-governing territory by today.

4)Of course, all Japanese colonies would have ended up resembling its ultra-modern infastructure and Japan would have probably ended up as the world economic power by now. It could easily benefit from its colonies' natural resources.

5) To be honest, we probably could have been even ahead of Japan being the most progressive country of the East since we are more world-open than the Japanese and Filipinos can really easily integrate with the world. You do not have to imagine the Philippines being ultra-modern since a developed country is not about being high-tech.
Highly industrialized countries like Italy, Greece, Ireland can still compete globally. To be honest, I think we are the big losers after WW2, since both Germany and Japan transformed into "ECONOMIC WONDERS" after the war.They almost completely recovered and gain world economic power.We turned to a different direction and so did Poland etc. Slums in the country didn't really exist until the end of WW2 where the homeless who lost their houses started building huts, and so did slum areas mushroom all over the country.

[Thunderflip]

You know, I've thought about that a gazillion times already. Even without bleaching, people of today tend to go lighter, it is because of evolution, people change physically.
Back then. where people were very dark-skinned and very native-looking, it is obvious why we were reffered as Indios.Today, most of us are refferes as Mongoloid Asians coy we kinda turned lighter and more oriental-looking due to the huge impact of Chinese immigrants to the country. It is obvious that today, almost every Filipino has
Hispanic, Chinese, Indian or American genes.

Those boats are legacies we inherited from the Malays, I dunno if they are still used today.


1) If we wern't colonized by Spain, we would have most likely ended up as an Islamic nation, probably similar to Indonesia and we woudn't be unique having great gothic, medieval and Spanish architecture anymore. We were attempted so many times to be captured by the Dutch, the British and the French. Manila was under British rule fro a couple of years.It was the British who introduced English in the 1700's, not the Americans.

2) That would have never happend. Spain, England, Netherlands and France were brutal colonial powers who commited a lot of slaughtery in their own colonies. Be glad, we did not end up like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile or even Puetro Rico where there are barely any natives left. They were the ones who taught us to be unfair, brutal and corrupt. Remember, colonial leaders always managed to degrade the natives of their colonies and put them down to have control over them. They forced them to think that they were inferior human beings and even used the name of Christianity to keep them under power.Only every 10th Filipino could speak Spanish during these times and not too many natives mixed with whites, and if, these. half-casts integrated in the white society as well.There were not so many westeners who migrated in the country since it had a very far route and it was not attractive as its South American counterparts.And most Europeans decents that were left were mostly slaughtered by the Japanese during WW2, others migrated out of the country.

3) If WW2 never happend, Manila would resemble a European city, like Prague, Rome, Milan or Berlin.The Spanish architecture and churches would have given the city a Rome touch, while the government area would have resembles Washington DC. Some thought is that the Philippines would alöso have ended up as a US ctate or still a self-governing territory by today.

4)Of course, all Japanese colonies would have ended up resembling its ultra-modern infastructure and Japan would have probably ended up as the world economic power by now. It could easily benefit from its colonies' natural resources.

5) To be honest, we probably could have been even ahead of Japan being the most progressive country of the East since we are more world-open than the Japanese and Filipinos can really easily integrate with the world. You do not have to imagine the Philippines being ultra-modern since a developed country is not about being high-tech.
Highly industrialized countries like Italy, Greece, Ireland can still compete globally. To be honest, I think we are the big losers after WW2, since both Germany and Japan transformed into "ECONOMIC WONDERS" after the war.They almost completely recovered and gain world economic power.We turned to a different direction and so did Poland etc. Slums in the country didn't really exist until the end of WW2 where the homeless who lost their houses started building huts, and so did slum areas mushroom all over the country.

[MelonLime]

some of thats depressing *sigh*......

[MelonLime]

some of thats depressing *sigh*......

[mysaong03]

yah, i agree, thunderflip...but even if as much as we wana achieve want we really wana in the course of our future, it seems that we never learned from the mistakes of the past, now thats our big problem...sayang lahat ng napaghirapan...

[mysaong03]

yah, i agree, thunderflip...but even if as much as we wana achieve want we really wana in the course of our future, it seems that we never learned from the mistakes of the past, now thats our big problem...sayang lahat ng napaghirapan...