YOU MAY remember an article I wrote awhile back about the Palacio Cristal located in El Retiro park, Madrid. If you don’t, then here’s a refresher.
It was built in 1887 for the “Philippine islands flora exhibition”, a way for the Spanish to see what their mysterious Asian colony had to offer. It was an innocent exhibition of tropical plants and even some animals.
Then, they decided to add 43 Igorots.
Picture this: the Palacio Cristal, as its name implies, is a dome-like structure made of glass. The Igorots were to told to live their daily life in a mini-replica of their village. When you hear this, it sounds like they were living in a zoo.
That’s exactly what it was, a human zoo. Some people have tried to sugar-coat the situation but there is no denying how the dignity of these Igorots were thrown out the window.
The pathetic thing is, you barely hear anything about what happened. The plaque situated outside the palace talks about a “flora” exhibition, but there is no mention of the Igorots. Travel bloggers who make their obligatory historical background definition of the tourist spot highlight the exotic plants that were imported, but not the Igorots that were on “display” too. I doubt they are even aware this happened.
Why am I bringing this up? It’s because some people here are starting to make a movement to appeal with the Madrid government to at least acknowledge that they brought members of an indigenous tribe who couldn’t even handle the climate of the country.
I was lucky enough to be able to help by sharing my opinion on the matter for an article. When I met the woman who was spearheading this, I was expecting to meet a passionate Filipino, but to my surprise, she was British.
I was touched that she cared about this issue, but also a little disillusioned because it took someone with no connection to our country to make a move. Adding the fact that I was one of the few people to answer her call to action makes me wonder why the Filipinos here in Spain don’t want to do anything.
Maybe they are ignorant about this story, just like I was when I first arrived here, or maybe they don’t want to dig up old scars. However, I think this mentality is exactly the reason why this atrocity should be brought to light and acknowledged.
I’m not expecting the government to go down on their knees and beg for forgiveness, but at least don’t bury the facts as an act of respect to the people who were brought here for entertainment.
It may seem unnecessary because it happened so long ago; but incidents like this, where out dignity is treated like something that can be manipulated, leaves scars on the Filipino people. You can see that now with our thirst for recognition from the world and how we still practice crab mentality.
So, I may just sound like I’m spewing nonsense, but this is just my way of expressing hope that this issue will be resolved and acknowledged. A way for Filipinos to feel respected by others, so we can respect ourselves./PN
