Sweet moments with Ms. B

When sugar started its full force of production the Philippines, it gained momentum in of the late part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century (1836 - 1920) it did well in providing almost one-third of all Philippine foreign trade, not to mention garnered the honor of being the most advanced manufacturing technology at that time.

By this time, a new kind of Philippine Society was formed. It was even called “Sugar society” (p.102). This was characterized by different thoughts (as compared to the usual ways of the wise- men’s views); acquired reactions to the current situations; vague perceptions of the confusion over social classes; new attitudes among workers with respect to the landowners; modern if not contemporary ideas on every angle of culture in general.

These and more were few of the many facets of society, which were encountered by the old town folks of the so-called “sugar society” as they were engulfed with massive changes brought about by the sugar industry.

However, a typical manner of receiving guests prevailed during these years. As learned, like when a royal family or a datu showed respect to a visiting foreigner like a conquistador and his men and were treated to a magnificent festive mood using imported china wares in serving food. Then an elegant ball was at hand honoring the big dignitaries. Politicians played major roles in the business arena. Commerce was at its peak and was doing very good as far as the rich landowners and the capitalists were concerned. Sugar industry soared high. These were during 1921 to 1934. Within these decade or more, banks were the major players, coupled with the landowners mortgaged lands as collaterals for increased capitalization. The rich obviously became richer.

The society created thru sugar was more of a one-way street, in the sense that only the lesser minority group of rich families enjoyed great wealth while the planters continued their toils. This high-class alliance of few locals spent extravagantly on luxuries so much so that they were living like kings and queens.

The vicinity where the people lived and did business has now trans formed into a bustling center; with new plazas everywhere, amusement centers, and the like. Markets got new facelift, department stores sprouted like di-cotylidons all over the place. A theater, a golf country club, a university, a jockey club, these are but a few of the amenities found in that sugarlandias of Negros and Pampanga.

Truly, the sugar industry has expanded the culture in sugar plantation areas, but despite all these, people’s sentiment still portrayed rich characteristics of old Spanish ways of land inequalities. Buried deep within this novel society which havd evolved, laid a very sad and unforgiving predicament among the town folks. Land grabbing was one of the major cause of conflict during those times. Protests after protests among the workers came into view against the hacienderos mostly for the change about improving the shares of the processed sugar. Chaos really stirred up the world of sugar planters. The kind of society that emerged in the sugar-rich plantations during these hard times was undoubtedly a very unstable one.

With such complexities occurring at a given time, i can say: the Filipino society was molded out of uncontrolled circumstances, a kind of unprecedented dilemma of events happening all together too fast too soon, notwithstanding the perplexities of life which could have been too naïve to have occurred too bluntly and modestly within the Golden years of sugar planting.
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Note: You must have noticed by now a few of my topics here pertains much of History. Yes, i feel a part of me is tinted with the past. As a child i have always wondered how vast a man's journey can reach through time. But i also was confused of man's existence. Insignificant? Maybe so, but slowly i came to know the ways how to better understand the future but by experiencing the past.