Veronica Alporha, PhD Candidate at the UH Department of History, recipient of the Belinda A. Aquino International Philippine Studies Endowment, will present her talk on “Hermenegildo Cruz, the Filipino Workers, and the Ruling Class.” The other speaker is Haruka Kei Waseda, MA candidate in Asian Studies, a Corky Trinidad Endowment Scholarship grantee, who will speak on the second topic, “Being of Two Places: Evolving views towards ‘Japan” through the lens of Philippine Nikkeijin from Baguio City.
Hermenegildo Cruz, was a labor leader and a revolutionary in the Philippines under a colonial regime. After the Filipino-American War, he worked with native politicians in the independence campaign, became a member of the Philippine Assembly (now the Philippine Congress), and was later appointed Director of the Bureau of Labor. Cruz was an advocate of the working class, and at the same time was associated with the conservative nationalist elite, causing tension in his position.
“Being in Two Places” is a story about the Philippine Nikkeijin, or Japanese people who moved to the Philippines in the early 1900s. Many of their descendants are still there, in Baguio, others in Davao and the Ilocos region. Haruka asks: Why do Philippine Nikkeijin from Baguio develop different views towards Japan? What factors shape their perspectives, and how do they influence the mobility of Philippine Nikkeijin?
Date and Venue: April 17, 2026, 11:30-1:30 pm, Moore Hall 319 (Tokioka Room).
