AIMS PRESIDENT ARLENE ABUID PADERANGA:Bringing Philippine maritime heritage to the forefront

AIMS PRESIDENT ARLENE ABUID PADERANGA:Bringing PH maritime heritage to the forefront
YASHIKA F. TORIB March 27, 2019 https://www.manilatimes.net/bringing-ph-maritime-heritage-to-the-forefro...

Movers, shakers and members of the world’s maritime industry, for the past couple of years, have been into planning and strategizing the future of shipping. We have seen cutting-edge technology transform vessels into man-less steel mammoths that are remotely operated by equally advanced communication equipment. Everyone was intent on moving forward.

Then in comes Dr. Arlene Abuid Paderanga, president of the Asian Institute of Maritime Studies (AIMS) who looks so far back at the country’s maritime heritage that it could actually change Philippine history, as we know it.

Like a catapult, Paderanga believed that the furthest hurl you could manage depends on how farther back you can pull your strings; such is the case for how the past shapes the future.

“You can only go as far as you bend back because that is where you get your strength and strategies, it’s what gives you direction,” Paderanga said, hinting that the best version of our futures is guided by learnings and values of the past.

It is along these lines that Paderanga, along with Gina Araneta-Barte of Hiniraya Heritage Foundation, established the country’s first comprehensive maritime museum at the sixth floor of AIMS in Pasay City.

Museo Maritimo, with its wooden port-holed double-doors, tells the story of how ancient forms of maritime trade and coastal-living shaped the culture, tradition and civilization of an archipelago that would later be known as the Philippines.

Its oldest piece is the Manunggul Jar, a burial pot excavated from a Neolothic burial site in the Manunggul Cave of the Tabon Caves in Palawan. It dates form 890-710 B.C. with two prominent figures on a boat at the cover handle to represent the journey of the soul to afterlife.

Meanwhile, a life-sized stone statue of Padre Odorico welcomes visitors to Museo Maritimo with outstretched hands. Earliest records unearthed by Hiniraya proved that the Franciscan priest was the first to have celebrated mass in the Philippine shores in Bolinao, Pangasinan in 1324; this was 197 years earlier than the widely accepted story of the first mass by Father Pedro de Valderrama in Limasawa, Leyte in 1521.

The biggest historical revelation of Dr. Paderanga and Barte’s Museo Maritimo is that a Filipino may have actually been the first to circum navigate the globe. Enrique de Malacca, was sold to slavery in Sumatra then later in Malacca City in Malaysia where he was subsequently bought by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

Enrique traveled back to Europe with Magellan and joined him in his voyages to the East Indies as his interpreter between 1519-1521. Italian historian Antonio de Pigafetta wrote that Magellan’s crew was accepted by the islanders of Cebu due to Enrique who spoke their native tongue. Enrique returned to his homeland upon the subsequent death of Magellan, thus, becoming the first person to circumnavigate the globe and returning to his starting point. Due to his Muslim identity, however, the Christian Spanish officials gave the recognition instead to Juan Sebastian Elcano as the first who circumnavigated the world.

“This museum offers experience and the spirit of patriotism to our visitors. There is the emotional bondage that you could feel towards your country by just walking around,” says Paderanga, adding that it is “one thing to know that you came from this people and tribe, and another seeing it mounted.

Indeed, the hands and minds that conceptualized and contributed to this museum sums up the best and brightest legends of the Philippine maritime industry to include but not limited to Capt. Rodolfo Estampador, chairman of the Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies; Capt. Benjamin Mata, founding president of Filipino Association of Mariners’ Employers; Captaom Gregorio, the late master mariner and founder of the Associated Marine Officers’ Union of the Philippines (Amosup).

“It fills us with pride that the country’s very first maritime museum is here at our school,” says Allen Miles Mitra, a marine engineering student of AIMS said. “We were not able to see some of its exhibits in other larger museums, and we enjoyed learning from there especially the ancient voyages and old maritime trading system,” he added.

While Museo Maritimo has already established its presence in the local maritime scene, Paderanga continues to aspire for more by looking into future expansion and construction of a new building within the school grounds. “I’m not going to stop until this dream is realized. My purpose as a part of the maritime education sector is to strengthen the Heritage Education especially in the maritime. We are tied to the seas and we should be proud of this. Seafaring is in our genes.”

Chronicling the past, present and future

Paderanga, a visual and performance artist by nature, related how millennials are wanting and aching to know their identity beyond gadgets.

“The stigma of this generation is that they are taught to go out and search the future, to know everything; but do they know their selves? This is a high time for schools and educators to start talking about Filipinos before they lose their identity.”

The school president shared that on the wake of establishing a maritime museum, AIMS is also looking into putting the country’s maritime heritage and present accomplishments in a book that could later be used by institutions as an educational textbook. Contents of this would come from compiled research and journals by historians, enthusiasts and maritime experts who served as guest speakers for the Maritime Forums that AIMS has been hosting. As of to date, the upcoming Maritime History Book already contains prehistory, historical, modern and a little future details of the Philippine Maritime industry.

“What gives us insecurity is the lack of knowledge that we have been cultured and civilized even before the Spaniards arrive, and when you talk about Philippine maritime history, you don’t isolate yourself from the rest of the world because we are a repository of everything around us, it is a part of our culture,” she said.

This ingredient of the country’s history is chronicled in her project where the timeline of how the earliest people arrived in the country was narrated with references on available materials and actual researches. “We will also interview the old and experienced seafarers who were already out at sea even before our time because we don’t want their stories to go with them. We have so much experience but we are not chroniclers so we just hand these stories by mouth. This time, we will chronicle these stories and include in our book. We hope to launch the Maritime History Book on our 26th Anniversary,” she said.

Seafaring in a matriarchal society

When asked about the viability of the seafaring profession for women the AIMS president, once again looked back on the sociocultural element of the Filipinos where behaviours and judgements are determined by their matriarchal upbringing.

The educator sees the Philippines as a place where opportunities are equal for both genders and success rates could be gauged only through dedication and strength of character. “You need to have conviction that you really want to be here because eventually you will become mothers and you’ll stop sailing.” While it is understandable that women are socially expected to raise families, this profession would, in turn, demand their presence. “You’ll be millions of miles away from your families in case of emergencies and you can’t just go back. The sea holds you, the ship owns you the moment you are there.”

“This is about love for the sea. It may appear glamorous but the reality aboard ships is messy — there’s grease, heave-inducing waves, hard labor. You have to accept that this industry was made for men and while laws are already made for women seafarers, you shouldn’t expect so much that the entire industry of men would adjust,” she said, hinting how female seafarers could step up to the challenge of working in a male-dominated industry.

Paderanga is a widely educated person with expertise on interior design, archaeology, performance arts, business management and maritime education.

“What hinders women to come into this profession is not their gender but their commitment and understanding of the job. Are you aware of what you’re getting yourself into and what it’s going to take from you? Are you willing to be a child of the ship? Are you ready to be owned by the ship?” Dr. Paderanga smiled and concluded.