Noong Unang Panahon
(Early Times)
Book Article

By Jack Teotico

Dominic Rubio’s latest exhibit “Early Times” takes us on an entirely magical world of Spanish colonial Philippines. It is a time long gone by yet Rubio is able to capture the innocence, the dignity, and identity of a people of mixed cultural heritage that is the Filipino. The Philippines, even before the advent of the Spaniards or before 1521 when the Spanish explorer Magellan came aboard three Spanish man-of-wars, already had an orderly and civilized society. The various tribal communities had their own laws, form of writing, customs, and even system of government.

The Philippines was first inhabited by people who came from south continental Asia who arrived in its 7,100 islands in large rowboats called barangays. These were usually groups of families related to one another belonging to one clan. These people came down from the Malay Peninsula and moved on to the South Pacific to what is known as Indonesia before moving northward to the Philippines. It is said that they came in two major waves. The first group came from Java or Sumatra. This group settled in the Southern and Central part of the Philippines. The second group who is said to have formed the Tagalogs and the Kapampangans moved towards the Northern part of the Philippines. When they had settled, Chinese traders and craftsmen as well as merchants from India began arriving as well.

For such are the origins of the Filipino as a people. They are an intermingling of the aboriginal natives such as the Aetas and Negritos, the people from South Asia that came aboard the rowboats, the Spanish colonizers as well as those that had come to do commerce from China and India.

The Spaniards brought with them new systems of agriculture and encouraged the growth of crops such as tobacco, cotton, rice, sugar, coconut, abaca and indigo. In the latter part of Spanish rule, new crops such as coffee, silk, and spices were introduced. In 1815, the Manila-Acapulco trade more popularly known as The Galleon Trade ended and the Philippines was opened to world trade encouraging even more active and vibrant markets. Railroads, electricity to light city streets, telegraph lines and steam powered mills were introduced.

Although the fledgling economy’s exports became robust, still the economy remained mainly agricultural and the country still rural. European fashion styles were introduced which the people of the islands creatively and innovatively adjusted using indigenously available fabrics such as abaca and piña combined with cotton cloth imported from India or Britain and on some occasions silk from China.

In Manila, city folk found great pleasure in patronizing performing arts such as the theater, the komedya, the zarzuela and going to exhibitions. Other times they would be visiting parks and gardens in particular the Luneta, Manila’s major park fronting its historic bay with the romantic sunset. Many families and couples as well enjoyed the almost ritualistic paseo where one would promenade in all their finery. Other pastimes or forms of leisure included the cockfight or the sabong.

Intermarriages occurred resulting in the mestiza whether Spanish-Filipino or Chinese-Filipino. Wealth was accumulated by the Senor and Senora who included among them the landlords who owned the large plantations. Domestic trade and commerce continued through the work of vendors who peddled milk, puto (rice cakes), mats (banig) or jars while tradesmen and craftsmen such as the barbero, the coconut and abaca trader or the basket maker stayed mostly with the Chinese.

Such is the mystical world of Dominic Rubio. Relying on past themes he has succeeded in interpreting them in a highly contemporary style that has become so very popular in today’s art scene. His subjects with long craning necks suggest no less than a people with much to be proud of thanks to their rich culture and heritage.