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PODCAST

The Colonial Department

Lost stories from 🇵🇭 history 🔊 Narrative nonfiction pod 📖 Book version published by @factionpress 📻 Written, produced, engineered by @liomangubat

history

All Episodes

17:33

S8E3: Nobody Expects the Philippine Inquisition!

The Colonial Department ·

2026/04/25

When you pulled up to the dock, they were there waiting for you, those holy men of God.But beyond inspecting ships that docked in the ports of Manila and Cavite for blasphemers and banned items, the Inquisition in the Philippines also investigated Protestants. Jews. Masons. Muslims. Non-Catholic Christian sects, like Armenian Christians or Jansenists. Its investigators monitored cases of heresy, blasphemy, apostasy, bigamy, and contempt. They kept tabs on witches, sorcerers, palm readers, fortune

en-US

17:45

S8E2: Riding a Tram in 1911 Manila

The Colonial Department ·

2026/04/10

What kind of city was waiting for Dutch scholar Gerret Pieter Rouffaer when he got to Manila?After more than a decade of occupation, the Americans had given the colonial capital some thorough nips and tucks. Aside from the glimmering roads and shady plazas, the Americans also laid down more tramways. Trams were already up and running during the latter part of the Spanish occupation, but in 1905, the US rehabilitated the old system. Unlike the old Spanish versions, these new streetcars barrelled

en-US

37:57

INTERVIEW: Exploring the food history of the Philippines

The Colonial Department ·

2026/04/04

“There’s a message to it: It’s our responsibility to keep Filipino food popular!”At the launch for her book What Recipes Don’t Tell: Philippine Food History in Fifty Words, author and historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria talked to a rapt audience at the Philippine Book Festival about a long career of writing about food. What new things can food tell us about our own history? How did we adapt techniques and ingredients from abroad… while still preserving our own? And how should we nurture this

en-US

17:23

S8E1: The Philippine Sour-chipelago

The Colonial Department ·

2026/03/21

Sourness, according to Doreen Fernandez, “is a favored Philippine flavor.” Just how sour is sour? “Sour enough to savor, to make the lips pucker and the eyes squint slightly, and yet not too sour—just at the point of perfection.”In the spectrum of sensation, sourness can be both sharp and sudden, an acetic shudder down the spine. Asim, the Tagalogs call it. From the earliest written records about the Philippines, it is this taste that has come to define our cooking. “Spanish colonials from the 1500s

en-US

6:27

An important announcement about the future of The...

The Colonial Department ·

2026/02/27

Before we start Season 8, I have an important announcement about this little podcast. For more info, check out this Instagram post.

en-US

00:37:31

INTERVIEW: Twin timelines, entangled histories

The Colonial Department ·

2026/02/07

“What does it take for a culture that has caused a lot of pain and suffering to have any chance at redemption… or any sense of justice?”Tom Sykes’ riotous new book—a collision of a neon-powered 1980s Manila and a disaster-stricken barangay in the 1570s—attempts to answer the question… with many seedy side quests in between. How did he attempt to write his wild, genre-bending vision of the Philippines? And how does Back to the Future figure into it?The Colonial Dept. Interview is a bonus show where I

en-US

00:45:48

INTERVIEW: Sungka as a wargame?

The Colonial Department ·

2026/01/28

What a folk game can tell us about how a datu waged war. An interview with Micah Perez of the UP Diliman Department of History. The Colonial Dept. Interview is a bonus show where I talk to researchers and authors shining a light on our past. Know a historian or author I should talk to? Email me at thecolonialdept@gmail.com.Thumbnail image: Usernameko/Wikimedia Commons

en-US

00:04:56

Extra Credit: The supersized storms that hit the...

The Colonial Department ·

2025/12/29

From the archives of Philippine history, meteorologist Fr. Manuel Selga makes a historical list of some deadly typhoons. (Listen to S7E13 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:17:08

S7E13: The War and the Weatherpriests

The Colonial Department ·

2025/12/20

Ever since its founding in the 1860s, the Manila Observatory had stood watch against the typhoons and hurricanes that threatened to strike the Philippines. But decades later, they were unprepared for a different kind of approaching storm: the Second World War!Cover photo from the Illustrated London News.Additional audio from British Pathe. Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Warren, James Francis (2024). Typhoons:

en-US

00:05:56

Extra Credit: What we can still learn from the Laguna...

The Colonial Department ·

2025/12/06

One of the Philippines’ most important archaeological finds, this thin sheet of metal still contains many mysteries. (Listen to S7E12 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:16:17

S7E12: Turbulent Times at Manila Bay

The Colonial Department ·

2025/11/29

In the late 1500s, sultans, kings, and outlaws alike all wanted a little slice of Manila. And over two turbulent decades, everyone from faraway Spain to neighboring Brunei asserted their claims over the rajahs and datus that lived there. This is the turbulent origin story of the city that we know today.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comCover photo from “Ataque de Li-ma-hong a Manila en 1574” by Juan Caro y MoraReferences:Patanne,

en-US

00:04:22

Extra Credit: The Indian-Armenian who preserved and...

The Colonial Department ·

2025/11/23

Born in Calcutta and in love with Philippine fashion, Rafael Daniel Baboom was a true partner in the creation of 19th-century Philippine art. (Listen to S7E11 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:17:23

S7E11: Paint Me By Your Name

The Colonial Department ·

2025/11/15

The nineteenth century—steamships, family names, world trade, foreign firms, liberal ideas. Great tides of change are roiling Manila. In the middle of the chaos, a new art trend captures the imagination of local elites. How are these letras y figuras holding a mirror to Philippine society?Cover Photo from the Ayala Corporation Collection.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Blanco, John D. (2009). Frontier Constitutions:

en-US

00:04:22

Extra Credit: On Tomas Claudio and other Filipinos in...

The Colonial Department ·

2025/11/09

Tomas Claudio wasn’t the only Filipino who fought in the trenches of the Great War. Thousands of others also enlisted. (Listen to S7E10 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:17:40

S7E10: Abaca World War

The Colonial Department ·

2025/11/01

It was the Great War, the War to End All the Wars… and Philippine abaca merchants were raking in sky-high profits. The world’s most powerful navies relied on this plant—which is native to the Philippines—to keep their warships in battle-ready shape. But what the First World War giveth, the First World War also taketh away.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Dacudao, Patricia Irene (2023). Abaca Frontier: The

en-US

00:04:53

Extra Credit: A bullfight in Sulu

The Colonial Department ·

2025/10/24

A story of a Philippine bullfight…in the unlikeliest place of alll! (Listen to S7E8 and S7E9 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:14:39

S7E9: Running of the Bulls, Part Two

The Colonial Department ·

2025/10/11

In the second part of our look at the lost sport of Philippine bullfighting, we go deep into its heyday in the 1800s, with social clubs, provincial arenas, and matadors with nicknames like “Fatiguitas.”Then, we look at how and why bullfighting faded away in our archipelago.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Vibal, Gaspar (2022). Bullfighting in the Philippines, 1602-2022. Vibal Books. Cornwell, Zach (Host). (13 December

en-US

00:15:56

S7E8: Running of the Bulls, Part One

The Colonial Department ·

2025/10/03

In fiestas in a bygone age, the corrida—the coursing of the bulls—would always be part of the festivities and celebrations in town plazas across the Philippines. Why did this tradition disappear from our shores?In this two-part episode, we examine the history of bullfighting in the Philippines. In Part One, join Antonio Luna as he watches his first bullfight… and then travel back in time to the very start of the Spanish occupation, when the fiesta de toros became a fixture in our holidays!Follow us

en-US

00:04:35

Extra Credit: Bits and pieces about Bagumbayan

The Colonial Department ·

2025/09/27

We know it now as the place where Rizal was executed, but the history of Bagumbayan reaches back centuries! (Listen to S7E7 before listening to this one!)

en-US

00:16:42

S7E7: Extramuros

The Colonial Department ·

2025/09/20

For centuries, Spain ruled the Philippines from within the closed, claustrophobic walls of Intramuros—the walled city of Manila. But right outside these walls, Manila, too, grew and developed, following the contours of migration, enterprise, and yes, even conflict. Let’s track the evolution of the districts and arrabales outside the walls, or extramuros.Follow us on IG: @thecolonialdeptFollow us on TikTok: @thecolonialdeptEmail us: thecolonialdept@gmail.comReferences:Camagay, Ma. Luisa (1993-1996)

en-US

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