The Philippines through the eyes of a Frenchman

Some of what we know of the Philippines in the 19th century is thanks to descriptions from foreign visitors to our unique land. Two of the most famous reminisces of the period are Twenty Years in the Philippines by the Frenchman Paul P de la Gironiere and Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines by the Briton Robert MacMicking. The name Macmicking would be familiar to some: he was the ancestor of Colonel Joseph Macmicking, who married Mercedes Zobel and is considered one of the guiding lights behind the Ayala companies. In the 175th anniversary of Ayala y Compania we would do well to remember his, and his wife Mercedes’ contributions to that company in the mid-to-late 20th century and beyond. In many ways, they laid the foundation for the eventual success that is the Ayala corporations.

It has been a little over 47 years since the Filipiniana Book Guild decided to publish historically important out-of-print books about the Philippines. The very first choice was Paul P. de la Gironiere’s Twenty Years in the Philippines. We originally published 1,000 copies, but demand was so high we published another 1,000; demand was still not met. The original title was actually Adventures of a Frenchman in the Philippines, which was restored in a most-worthy soft cover edition printed by A. Burke-Miahle Publications in 1972.

We had the distinction of writing the preface of the 1962 edition and we firmly believed then, as we continue to do so today, that the modern Filipino readers would find the book interesting because of its “lively style akin to present-day journalistic methods.” Gironiere was the Filipiniana best-seller in the 19th century and remained in high-demand in the 20th. We would be curious to see what his reception would be in the 21st.

Gironiere’s book can be roughly divided into two layers: His adventures and his observations about the Philippines. It is likely that his observations about the country at the time were accurate. The book contains the only known eyewitness account of Andres Novales, the self-proclaimed Emperor whose revolt was one of the shortest in the history of our country, and the earliest known mention of the Turumba procession in Pakil, Laguna. However, his so-called adventures can best be classified as fiction. Indeed it can be said that tall stories about personal adventures in the Philippines began with Gironiere.      

He was a doctor, specifically an oculist (one who specialized in the eye) who landed in the Philippines in 1820 and, according to him, on a whim decided to set-up shop in the town of Manila: “A sudden thought crossed my mind; what if I were to remain at Manilla and practice my profession? Young and inexperienced, I ventured to think myself the cleverest physician in the Philippine Islands…I turned my back upon the ship, and walked briskly into Manilla.”  Is there any doubt that he would meet with great success? 

Gironiere is inextricably linked to the town of Jalajala, which of course he founded, organized and presided over for almost 20 years (until the death of his wife and son). However, his descriptions of Manila and the Philippines of the period are invaluable: “The city is divided into two sections — the military and the mercantile… The former, surrounded by lofty walls, is bounded by the sea on one side, and upon another by an extensive plain, where the troops are exercised, and where of an evening the indolent Creoles, lazily extended in their carriages, repair to exhibit their elegant dresses and to inhale the sea breezes. This public promenade . . . may be styled the Champs Elysees, or the Hyde Park, of the Indian Archipelago.” 

Gironiere’s book is indubitably one of the most interesting and finely written books about the Philippines and reached a wide audience in the mid-1800s in Europe. Books such as Gironiere’s and Macmicking’s give the Filipino an opportunity to see the Philippines through foreign eyes. Sometimes, this is the truest way to understand the state of your country. Which asks the question: what does the rest of the world think of the Philippines today? 

We hope that someday books such as Gironieres will be re-introduced to a new generation of readers eager to discover the Philippines of the past.