BY Jay Jomar QuintosTranslated by Philip Y. Kimpo, Jr
While it has been said that the role that homosexuals played in the nation’s pre-colonial and colonial history is colorful, from the powerful katalonan and babaylan up to the baptized, cross-dressing natives, this experience is being erased from the records and narratologies of the nation. The experience and concepts of homosexuals are often set aside in favor of presenting the culture anointed by foreigners. In J. Neil Garcia’s (2008) observation, there is a need for an empirical study of the local and national homosexual experience, especially since many people are unaware of its flow and source, as well as to give voice and room to homosexuals, something that is withheld by the country’s colonial narrative.Homosexuals have seemingly vanished like bubbles from the nation’s traditions and history. Although there are buried remains of the homosexual experience, these need to be exhumed before we can form a valuation that is distinct from the meanings forced upon us by purely masculine or purely feminine experiences. There are no accounts of homosexual greatness and
Quintos • A Glimpse Into the Asog Experience156honor that can serve as a well of images for its mode n valuation to be found in history books. F o r e i g n c u l t u r e h a s d i s s o l v e d t h e g e n u i n e a n d n a t i v e e x p e r i e n c e and definition in the precolonial period of history, sought to render it uniform and compare it with Western models. In the nation’s colonial discourse, the process of the natives’ conversion can be regarded as the method with which various domains of the country have changed—territory, beliefs and culture. And above all these, is the transformation of even the natives’ ideals and desires (Rafael, 1988). At this point, the transformation of the great and vibrant yearnings and imaginings of the asog, bayoguin and binabayi.This paper seeks to sustain the ongoing studies on the experience and history of homosexuals in the Philippines. It will attemptto track the transformation of the ancient asog, bayoguin and binabayi into what is called today as the bacla/bakla. Records and narratives from the precolonial period of history serve as the sources for this study. Because these are precolonial, they are oral and unwritten, and thus we will examine their markers found throughout the body of books, regulations, diccionarios, manuals, and confesionarios thatwere published by Spanish missionaries during the colonial period. We willalso examine the connections and resemblances between the records by Spanish foreigners and the prevalent conventions of popular culture, in particular the guidelines set by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). In this light, we will analyze the culture brought along by the colonizers that continue to echo and manifest in today’s media. The native experience in and history of the Philippines provide a crucial link to this study. Lastly, this study will attempt to map the location of homosexuals today, a few hundred years after being baptized by a foreign culture.This paper will limit the study to the asog, bayoguin, binabayi, and bacla/bakla. The term “homosexual” will also be used interchangeably with ''BALKA''
THE ASOG, BAYOGUIN, AND BACLA
Even though the Spanish missionaries in the Philippines made records on the traditions and existence of homosexuals who were then called “asug,” “asog,” “bayog,” “bayoguin,” and “binabayi,” these were buried by European traditions brought by the colonizers. In the books, confesionarios, dictionaries and manuals of the Spanish, it will be noted that even then there were already written records on the existence and way of life of homosexuals. Take for example the words found in the Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagal a (1860) by Juan de Noceda and Pedro de Sanlucar, and the Vocabulario e la Lengua Bicol (1865) by Marcos de Lisboa, that identify the personalities of men who dress in women’s clothes and keep relations with fellow men. The word “asog” can be found in both the Vocabulario of the Tagalogs and Bicolanos. Noceda and Sanlucar (1860) list the “asog” as a name for persons who are hermafrodito and with two genders. According to De Lisboa (1865), on the other hand, “asog” pertains to a male who dresses, acts and thinks like a female. Aside from these, several words in the Vocabulario of Noceda and Sanlucar have definitions similar to “asog,” such as the words “bayoguin” and “binabayi,” both of which pertain to males who dress as females and are cowardly in action. The Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala (1860) also notes that the word “bacla,” which iswidely used today as “bakla,” had fourdistinct meanings. First, the “bakla” as an illusion to make a person appear beautiful and radiant; second, pertaining to a change in and fear of an object; third, the shift in interests to attain an object, and; fourth, the “bacla” as a part of the skin that one is scratching. If so, when did the asog, bayoguin and binabayi started being called “bacla” or “bakla”?
The reason why the asog, bayoguin and binabayi were called “bacla” or “ ba k la” m ig ht be at tributed to t he second defi n ition of t he word “ ba k la” in t he Vocabulario, that is, the trait of being cowardly and timorous. In the Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon natin na Tola (1990) by Gaspar Aquino de Belen, the word “bacla” is used several times to depict spinelessness:
673Cun sila,y, nagpabaya nabudhi naboyo’t, nabaclalongmomang sangpalataya,icao caya naman Ina’y,gagagad magpalamara?
(Emphasis is mine.)Jesus Christ’s dialogue in the above stanza from the pasyon hints at a particular change in plan. We can say that this refers to his disciples getting fearful of pushing through with their intent. We can infer that the word “bacla” was used in the pasyon as a synonym for cowardice. Thus the “bacla” is equivalent to “coward” which was commonly used by Spanish missionaries in describing the asog, bayoguin and binabayi. If we pursue the relationship of the concepts of cowardice and the asog, we can say that the males of ancient times could do things that the asog, bayoguin and binabayi could not accomplish. At this point, the Spanish missionaries could have supposed that this trait of the asog was a manifestation of cowardice
The data collected by Francisco Alcina in the Historia de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas (2002) might be some of the first recorded images regarding the cowardice and being “bacla” of the asog, bayoguin and binabayi. The records make mention of the difference between asog and masculine standards. Alcina (2002) even adds that all Bisayan males were keen on getting tattooed (they were called the pintados) save for those who were called the asog (p. 141). We can say that Alcina used as basis and guideline what the asog did not do that all the other males did, such as having their bodies tattooed. This might have been Alcina’s rationale as to why he called the asog, bayoguin and binabayi as cowards and bacla.Alcina (2002) also saw the divergence between the image and actions of the native male and the asog. In his appraisal, these were the traits of the so-called asog:
From this quick peek into the historical records made by Spanish missionaries like Alcina, we can suppose that the concept of being bakla has been existing in the Philippines since ancient times. Although demons and witches (mangkukulam) were deemed to exert a hold on the beliefs and behaviors of the asog, bayoguin and binabayi, their indigenous character in the country’s precolonial chapter cannot be ignored. In fact, there were parts of the community that set aside their genders in order to be of greater use to the responsibilities borne by the group.In Zeus Salazar’s (1995) assessment of the ancient person’s duties to his/her community, particularly those of the babaylan, most of the people who carried out such duties were females while only a few were “neutrals” or feminine males. This goes against the eyewitness accounts of many Spanish missionaries that attest to the many asog, bayoguin and binabayi who fulfilled the role of the babaylan. In The Manners, Customs, and Beliefs of the Philippine Inhabitants of Long Ago: Being Chapters of “A late 16th Century Manila Manuscript” (1961) by Carlos Quirino and Mauro Garcia, several historians seem to admit their difficulty in identifying who was truly female in a group of females, asog, bayoguin and binabayi whom they witnessed
From this report on the natives, we can launch into speculation that several missionaries were confused by the babaylans they saw. We can also say that aside from the authentic females, many of the babaylans were actually asog, bayoguin and binabayi who had escaped the missionaries’ notice because of their complete feminine garb. This cannot be separated from the statements of Alcina, San Antonio, and Placencia regarding the asog, bayoguin and binabayi whom they encountered, wherethey did not recognize them as male due to their extraordinary clothing, actions and mannerisms, which were similar to those of females. In the history of the concept of cross-dressing, this is what J. Neil Garcia (2008) said that the asog, bayoguin and binabayialready had a tradition of dressing as females since early times. In this light, it is also safe to say that the early missionaries’ puzzlement over the differences between female and asog were manifestations of freedom, because the asoghad liberty over their choice of wear, behavior, beliefs and way of living.Meanwhile, we can also extract from Quirino and Garcia (1961) that the tradition of male marrying his fellow male was nothing out of the ordinary. It is readily apparent that the local concept of matrimony was not imprisoned into male-and-female only. While it is said that this kind of relationship has no use in increasing the population, it can be perceived that the natives accepted this as part of life.Over time, the foreign culture imported from Europe would supplant the indigenous culture. Whereas several illuminations on the native meanings of life and culture could be found in the native experience, the colonizers erased these for supposedly being immoral, barbaric and inspired by the devil. The account of the evangelization of Antipolo, in which many locals participated, attests to this. One of the focal points of the conversion was the katalonan (a bakla), who supposedly turned his back on the native beliefs to embrace the colonizer’s culture. In Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1969), Pedro Chirino remarks:
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