Mabini defrosted

WHO IS Luisita Blanchard? All we have are the copies of two letters Apolinario Mabini wrote her, in October and November 1900, from his home in Manila's Nagtahan area shortly after his release from 10 months' exile in Guam.

It appears that Miss Blanchard was an anti-imperialist in the United States who wrote articles favorable to the cause of Philippine independence. She sent copies of articles she had written on Emilio Aguinaldo, and these were received with thanks by Mabini.

From Mabini's letters, we presume that Blanchard was not a pseudonym and that she really existed. This is something that has to be settled because our heroes were fond of using feminine pseudonyms.

Next time I go to the US Library of Congress, I will try to find out more about Luisita Blanchard. I hope to be able to trace the letters she sent to Mabini, because at the moment, we only have one-half of the correspondence.
Before some people jump to conclusions, I must state clearly that there was no love angle in this correspondence and that we cannot place too much meaning on the glowing praises Mabini showered upon her, like: "I appreciate the American women in their culture and independent habits which render them utterly helpful workers to the aggrandizement of womankind. You are a highest example."

Then there is part of the letter we cannot take at face value that reads: "You are a true Filipina by heart and feelings and so I love and admire you." We can only imagine a dream that Luisita shared with Mabini that led him to say: "Your dream is very strange indeed, but very explicable to the Spiritists and believers in the spirits."

What makes these two letters significant to me is that it is here that our hero, our Sublime Paralytic, becomes human again. Most of his letters are legal and official -- quite cold, really. So to see Mabini defrosted is a treat, indeed.
We also have to comb his correspondence for stray bits of personal information, but in his letter to Luisita, Mabini volunteers the information:

"To correspond with you familiarly I tell you that about thirty-five years ago I was born in a town of Batangas province south of Manila between Cavite and Laguna provinces and between the lake of Bai and the lake of Bombon, or Taal. By my father and mother, I am of pure native origin. Although my parents were poor, I have got some instruction and became a lawyer, thanks to persistive efforts. Since January 1896, I cannot stand because of weakness in my waist and legs. I do not suffer any other ache and I look as if I were not sick. The physicians however say that I will never recover my health; but I do not despair because I am still able to do something good for my country. Fortunately, I have neither wife nor children, for this reason the sadness of my life is more tolerable, for I do not suffer in my loves except in that of my country. My mother and father are dead."

As one writer to another, Mabini sent Luisita an article he had written, presumably translated by him from the original Spanish. He sent this together with copies of the National Anthem and another piece of music and he requested its publication in some anti-imperialist paper in the United States: "...I enclose also a translation of an article published by me in a Manila newspaper. I am not familiar with the particular construction of English language; so I ask you the favor of correcting and sending it to a review or newspaper, if you find it publicable [publishable]."

Among the appreciative e-mail responses I received on last Wednesday's column was one from a former student, Reagan Yap, who shared what he thought Mabini's correspondence would read like in gentext form. Original text: "I am very much obliged to you for your deep sympathy and true friendship toward me as well as for your sorrow for my illness. Let me shake very friendly and warmly your hands across the seas, seeing that it is indiscreet to kiss it. "

Suggested text message form: "I m very mšch obliged 2 š 4 šr deep sympthy n trš frendshp 2ward me as wel as 4 šr sorow 4 my lagnat. Let me shake very frendly n warmly šr hands across d seas, hiya pa me i-halik kamay š eh. :)"
If Mabini had MMS, then the original text, "...I am fond of reading, but ignorant of music. Please accept as a remembrance the enclosed national and Independence hymns. I enclose also a photograph of myself and will highly appreciate a photograph of yourself," would have gone this way: "I lyk reading, pero di pa masyado mšsic... ... E2 pic of me... ... Sana bigay rin š 2 me šr pic. :)"
I often tell my students that one reason historians like me have a career is that our heroes did not have cell phones or e-mail. They were forced to commit things to paper. They wrote in longhand and made hard copies because of the technology at hand. If Jose Rizal had a cell phone I would be out of a job.

I encourage students to imagine what our heroes would sound like in a chatroom or in text messages and I'm glad Reagan Yap gave us a clear idea in the above. I do not envy the historian of the future, for his primary sources are ephemeral and at best cryptic.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.

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