NHCP publishes SU VP’s book on Visayas’ maritime history

DUMAGUETE CITY— “The Visayas, Islands in the Sea: A History” is a book that tells the history of the Visayas using the maritime perspective penned by Dr. Earl Jude Paul L. Cleope, Silliman University (SU) vice president for academic affairs is now published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). 

“Dr. Cleope’s book emphasized maritime history, tracing the interactions of people and their activity at sea, and connecting the history of the different islands in the Visayas,” Dr. Emmanuel Franco Calairo, NHCP chair said and congratulated Cleope on his book.

Cleope, who is also a commissioner of the NHCP said, this study of history is framed on the role of the sea in the historical development of the Visayas region. In the introduction of his book, Cleope said he spent 15 years examining the role of the bodies of water surrounding the Visayas islands as “part of the historical discourse.”

With this focus on the seas and maritime activities of people in the Visayas, the book describes the history of the Visayas islands as major historical events in Philippine history unfold.

“This book dealt with voluminous materials dealing with Visayan local history that was synthesized to provide a history of the region with the ultimate goal of contributing to constructing a complete history of the nation,” wrote Cleope. 

Clope added that the book emphasizes the maritime parts of the Visayas that shaped the region’s identity and cultural heritage and attempts to fill in the first gaps needed to develop the region’s history.

Dr. Bernardita Reyes Churchill, Philippine National Historical Society (PNHS) president who wrote the foreword for Cleope’s book, said the book blazed a trail in local/regional history.

“The ultimate goal of [the book] was to synthesize the history of the Visayas, collating the various historical studies thus far, constructing a regional history of the Visayas that would find resonance in the historiography of the other regions in the Philippines,” wrote Churchill.

The NHCP informed Cleope on September 3 that copies of his book are printed and are now for sale at P250 per copy.