Consul General Ferrer Receives New History Books for PH Consulate Library

PRESS RELEASE
SFPCG-PR-103-2021

CONSUL GENERAL FERRER RECEIVES NEW HISTORY BOOKS FOR PH CONSULATE LIBRARY

The Filipino American History Month and Philippine Quincentennial commemorations continue at the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, following the donation of Philippine history books from Filipino scholar Dr. Richard Scheerer M.D.

Philippine Consul General in San Francisco Neil Frank R. Ferrer and Mrs. Miriam M. Ferrer led Consulate officials in receiving Dr. Scheerer at the Philippine Center’s Museo ng Lahing Pilipino (Museum of the Filipino Race) on 6 October 2021. Accompanying Dr. Scheerer were Ambassador Romeo Arguelles, who previously served as Philippine Consul General in San Francisco, and his wife Dr. Azucena L. Arguelles.

“The Consulate is honored to receive books and reading materials on Philippine history and historiography from Dr. Richard Scheerer. We are grateful to him as well as to Ambassador and Dr. Arguelles for their generous donation, which will now form part of the expanding Filipiniana collection of the Consulate’s Sentro Rizal Library,” Consul General Ferrer said.

Consul General Ferrer received from Dr. Scheerer a revised and expanded version of “Another Report About Magellan’s Circumnavigation of The World: A Compilation by Fernando Oliveira,” edited by German Filipinologist Dr. Karl Heinz Wionzek.

The book offers a second-hand, unbiased perspective of Portuguese scholar Fernão de Oliveria on the 1519-1522 Magellan-Elcano expedition, the first circumnavigation of the Earth. It was published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines for the 500^th anniversary of Lapulapu’s victory at the Battle of Mactan, which led to the death of expedition leader Ferdinand Magellan.

The Philippine Consul General also received the third edition of “Emilio Aguinaldo, the Germans and the Austrian Ferdinand Blumentritt: Contacts and Mutual Relations Between 1897 and 1901,” written by Dr. Heinz. It gives a unique account of five German nationals who were motivated, for various reasons, to support the Philippine Revolution against colonial rule. One of these Germans is Otto J. Scheerer, grandfather of Dr. Scheerer.

The book also attempts to answer the question of whether or not Commodore George Dewey promised General Emilio Aguinaldo that the U.S. will recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Philippines.

Dr. Scheerer also gave Consul General Ferrer a copy of his own journal article published by SOAS University of London’s South East Asia Research entitled “‘Headhunters Under the Stars and Stripes’: Revisiting Colonial Historiography.” The article delves into the New York Times article by Interior Secretary Dean C. Worcester of the Philippine colonial government, which lauded U.S. efforts to “civilize the wild tribes” of the Cordilleras in northern Philippines.

The book donations complement current efforts to expand the Philippine history collection of the Sentro Rizal, the Consulate’s hub for Philippine culture and the arts, history, and literature. The Consulate also bared that it is planning to move its Sentro Rizal Library to the Philippine Center’s Museo ng Lahing Pilipino, to make its book collection more accessible to the reading public.

Consul General and Mrs. Ferrer were joined during the book handover by Deputy Consul General Raquel R. Solano, Consul Vanessa G. Bago-Llona, and Vice Consul Adrian Audrey L. Baccay. END