15 November 2021 – Early engagements between Filipinos and the Dutch were substantial and eventful, and deserve to be better understood by the present generation of peoples of both countries as these provide the backdrop for the relations. Ample archival and historical materials are available, which await further examination and studies by scholars and other enthusiasts.

The above message was underscored at the second-day session of the webinar held 9-10 November and hosted by the Philippine Embassy in The Hague in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and The Netherlands.

In her presentation, Professor Ruurdje Laarhoven of the Hawaii Pacific University said that though there were rivalries between Spain and the Dutch Republic in the 16th century, there were substantial commerce between Spanish and other traders in Manila and the Dutch East India Company in Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia), albeit conducted discreetly. Nonetheless, the trading between the Dutch based in Ternate, also in now Indonesia, and the Sultanate of Maguindanao in Cotabato, starting with Sultan Kudarat, were done openly and flourished for two hundred years.

“The field awaits younger historians, anthropologists, economists, and other scholars to expand our understanding of the circulations of commodities, the modes of transaction, and the mediation of inter-group politics at the regional, national, and specially at the local level,” Professor Laarhoven stated.

The Nationaal Archief, the Netherland’s national archives in The Hague, holds the vast archives of the Dutch East India Company from 1602–1811, among other resources.

For his part, Professor Ambeth Ocampo of the Ateneo de Manila University made a presentation on the Battle of the La Naval de Manila, a series of five naval battles in which Spanish and Filipino forces repelled various attempts by Dutch fleets to invade Manila. The first of these naval battles took place near Fortune Island off Batangas province in 1600.

“What we see in the Spanish-Dutch battle in 1600 was the beginning of the Philippines and Netherlands historical relations,” Professor Ocampo said. “Our countries share a maritime past, and we can choose a history that can divide or we can choose a history that unites nations and people through mutual understanding,” Professor Ocampo added.

With the theme “Philippines-Netherlands Connections @70: Reconstructing History and Forging Ahead,” the two-day webinar drew large and diverse audience in both countries, including government officials, academicians, business personalities, community members, and students.

Other panelists in the second-day session included Noli Me Tangere/El Filibusterismo translator Gerard Arp, who made a discourse on the various connections between Jose Rizal and the Dutch Republic; and movie director Tony Reyes and media personality Bernard Canaberal on their documentary project on Blessed Titus Brandsma, the Dutch Carmelite friar who was imprisoned for opposing Nazi propaganda and martyred in the Nazi-run Dachau concentration camp during World War II. Blessed Brandsma, now the patron of the Philippine Province of the Order of the Carmelites, is due for canonization by the Vatican.

The session also featured the launch of the book “Crossroads: Compendium of Agreements between the Philippines and the Netherlands, 1951 to 2021” which is published by the Philippine Embassy. The book’s editorial board is composed of Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya, Consuls Jarie Osias and Ma. Theresa M. Alders, Princess Sharon Rose Satin and Kieren Roevi Batiles.

In his remarks, Philippine Ambassador Malaya said, “History and culture play a vital role in international relations. These engagements provide us the chance to appreciate points of commonality and, where there are differences, to understand the motivations and humanity that underlie them. Our two peoples share much in common despite belonging to different corners of the world.”

Prof. Manuel Enverga III, Director of Ateneo de Manila University European Studies Program, was the webinar’s master of ceremonies, while Mr. Kevin Punzalan, the Netherlands Embassy in Manila’s Senior Policy Officer, and Mr. Kritzman Caballero, lecturer at Ateneo de Manila University, were the moderators for the two-day sessions, respectively.

The webinar was organized by the Philippine Embassy, in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Manila, the Ateneo de Manila University and the Philippine Foreign Service Institute. END