Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

The late internationally renowned author Michael Crichton wrote in Timeline, one of his bestselling books,"Professor Johnston often said that if you didn’t know history, you didn’t know anything. You were a leaf that didn’t know it was part of a tree." An important part of American and Filipino history between the years 1898 through 1915 was a lost leaf once. But with the War and Dissent exhibit, which was produced by the Presidio Trust, originally shown at the Presidio Officers’ Club in San Francisco for four months, the lost leaf was found and with it a whole tree has been reformed. Now the very same powerful exhibit has come to the Philippines presented by the Lopez of Balayan, Batangas Foundation and in partnership with the National Museum of the Philippines and Fundacion Santiago.

The exhibit, composed of 11 themed galleries of archival photographs and texts, came to life when a grandson of Sgt. Hiram Lewis Harlow, a member of the US Infantry who trained in San Francisco, gave his grandfather’s war diary and a collection of 80 photographs to the Presidio Trust Library. The diary became one of the exhibit’s main sources, exploring the war in the Philippines from different points of view, and is the focal point of the exhibit’s first gallery, Monuments without Memories. Another source were a series of letters from the Lopez family, where three family members were imprisoned by the US army. The letters also became the basis for Shadows of War, a unique multi-media production staged during the exhibit by Bindlestiff Studio, a Filipino-American theater group based in San Francisco.

It brings to light the period when the United States declared war against Spain (which currently occupied the Philippines at the time) and the war between the armed forces of the United States and the Philippines that followed, dubbed as the "The Forgotten War." Dr. Randolph Delehanty, the Trust’s historian and the creator of the exhibit explained during the exhibit’s run in San Francisco that War & Dissent resonated with many visitors. "I think the primary reason why this exhibit touched so many people was because it was news to them."

The Presidio in San Francisco is the center of all these events as consultant Purissima "Petty" Benitez-Johannot explains in an interview with the Asian Journal. "The Presidio is like the equivalent of the Philippines’ Intramuros," she says. "During the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, that was the place where the US soldiers were concentrated and trained to be shipped out to Puerto Rico, Cuba and of course the Philippines." The Presidio, now a federal institution which holds a museum, is a vital part of history, and the move to occupy the Philippines is a monumental part of US history.

"This was a move that helped the US break away from the continental world that they had," Ms. Benitez-Johannot says. "They became more global. The United States became an emerging nation then, emerging in terms of global power. At the time, they were the emerging power. So if you want to understand that, it’s good to come back to t his period where they had the initial contact with the outside world."

A 12th and new gallery entirely devoted to the Lopez clan of Balayan, Batangas was created in the exhibit’s Philippine edition.