By Lolo Bobby Mercado-Reyes of Sorsogon City

and West Covina, California

Now Coined Is the Word “Fabroscation” that Is Totally Different from “Fabrication”

T he re-visitation of the Filipino-American War (FAW) all started when this writer commented on a posting made by Ms. Linda Nietes in her Facebook.com page about the Filipino-American Artist Eliseo Silva’s Memorial on the FAW of 1899-1913.

This writer, being a serious student of history, especially the topic of the United States-Philippines Relations (USPR), posted the following: “Eliseo Silva’s Memorial on Fil-Am War of 1899-1913. Eliseo got the years right but he must tell viewers that it consisted of 2 phases: Christian-Filipino (1899-1902) & the Muslim phase of the Fil-Am War (1899 to 1913 or even longer). For details, pls read http://www.mabuhayradio.com/history/revisiting-and-reclassifying-the-filipino-american-war”.

Then Prof. Alex Fabros of San Francisco, California, who is one of my Facebook.com activist-friends, posted in turn his comments: “Alex Fabros there are the 3rd and 4th phases to the Philippines vs. America War.
Filipino nationalism 1918-1946
Neo-colonial war 1946-November 1991.”

Professor Fabros is carrying on what his father (now deceased) and I used to debate civilly in a Filipino-American “list serv” way back in the late 1990s when the yahoogroups.com and the Facebook.com were just on the drawing boards or infancy. Professor Fabros in fact recently posted a video about our great debate on “Flips, Pinoy and Pilipino” as terms of endearment for the Filipino people. Interested readers may browse the said video and more materials that I posted in this article,

Will the World Now Call Pfilipfinos the Pfeopfle with Pfunny Names?

“Fabroscation” Defined

To honor the Fabros Family, especially my friend, Prof. Alex Fabros, I coined today the term, “Fabroscation.” It is not meant to be a synonym of “fabrication,” which—in history writing—means the “manufacture of (deceptive) ruses by ‘Hoaxbalahaps’ like the pillars of the Filipino-American National Historical Society (FANHS) or self-proclaimed writers of history like Marina Espina, Gregorio ‘Lagareng Hapon’ Macabenta and their allies.” In other words, the Hoaxbalahaps mistake hysteria for history, which to them is the “art of choosing from among so many lies that which resemble most the truth,” as Poet-pundit Fred Burce Bunao used to make fun of the FANHS and its hoax-loving supporters.

One can read more of the Hoaxbalahaps and Mr. Bunao’s definition of history, please click on this link, The Fourth of July Is RP-US "Interdependence Day"

“Fabroscation” means (to me) a scholarly re-visitation of history, so that at least half-truths can be dissected and eventually included in rewriting the annals of a country or the relations of two groups of people, i.e., the USPR.

Development of Filipino Nationalism

P rofessor Fabros has a good point in pointing out (pun intended) of the third phase of the FAW: The development of “Filipino nationalism (from) 1918-1946.” But to this budding historian, the FAW became actually a partnership between the United States and the Philippines in fighting wars against the Germans in World War I, the Japanese in World War II and other conflicts waged by the Americans, with the Filipinos coming in as participants in a Coalition of the Willing.

This writer considers also the Third Phase of the FAW as the combined efforts of the American colonial authorities and the emerging Filipino policy-and-decision makers (PADM) in declaring war against parochialism, ignorance, poverty and pursuing the freedom from want.

To me, Spain and the United States must be credited for helping mold the warring tribes and even the inter-tribal factions into a semblance of a Filipino nation. The Americans pursued what the Spaniards tried to do such as establishing a public-educational system. Thus, interested readers may want to read my take of what was probably the biggest achievement of the United States in the Philippines: The setting up of an educational system, the fielding of “Thomasite teachers” and the training of the PADM as the so-called “pensionado” students in American educational citadels:

The “Thomasite” Teachers Are Indeed Back in America

The efforts of the United States and the PADM culminated in the return of Philippine independence to the archipelago on July 4, 1946.

Neo-colonial War from 1946

T his writer agrees with Professor Fabros that a fourth phase of the FAW started in 1946. But he must tell us why he ended the phase in “November 1991.” To this student of history, the fourth phase ended with the EDSA Revolution in February 1986, as per these articles, Remembering Ronald Reagan and his Role in Philippine History and

The 1986 EDSA Revolution Was Part of the “Reagan Revolution”

To my limited knowledge of Philippine-American history, the Filipino PADM teamed up with military-industrial complex (MIC) of the United States in a “neo-colonial war” when Filipino soldiers continued to serve the American military in helping colonize post-war Japan, in taking over South Vietnam after the French forces were defeated on May 7, 1954, at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, and in fighting for the United States (ostensibly appearing to fight with the United Nations) in the Korean conflict under the leadership of United States President Harry S Truman.

The tandem forged by the American MIC and the Filipino PADM resulted in the formation of the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization in Manila, as per this limited account, The SEATO Should Be Revived to Help Pakistan Secure its A-Bombs and Combat Terrorism

Fifth Phase of the FAW

To this writer, a fifth phase of the FAW began in 1986 after the EDSA Revolution when the MIC of the United States needed Filipino workers to do some of the dirty jobs in protecting American interests in the Middle East and elsewhere. Thus, contemporary history is still being written by Overseas-Filipino workers (OFWs) and Overseas Filipinos, especially the Filipino Americans.

It is easy to document this phase by illustrating the deaths of American soldiers of Filipino descent and OFWs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now the fifth phase is the continuing war against international terrorism and this writer has predicted that eventually both the MIC of the United States and the PADM of the Philippines will accept the concept of an All-Muslim security force, engineering brigades and medical corps from Mindanao, as forecast in these articles,

Why the Afghan War Is Beyond Redemption. And the Only Solution to End It

Illiteracy Fuels the Ongoing “Clash of Civilizations” in RP, Especially in Mindanao

The Concept of an Islamic Peacekeeping Force (As Proposed in MabuhayRadio in 2007) Is Now Being Talked About

N ow that I have more or less presented my version of “fabroscating” the Filipino-American War, it is now the turn of Prof. Alex Fabros to continue this re-visitation and perhaps re-writing of the FAW.

Perhaps the venerable Hector Santos, Victor Nebrida, Dr. Frank Quismorio, Jr., and their comrades in the Philippine History Group of Los Angeles may like to participate in this “Fabroscation” of the United States-Philippine Relations (USPR). Even the members of the FANHS may join in this exercise on rewriting history without of course submitting hoaxes and other bogus materials. The FANHS members can only fabroscate (sic) and not fabricate historical topics.

(To be continued . . .)