A Preliminary Study on how G.I.S. Know-How Can Spatially Repre

Journal of Asian Network for GIS-based Historical Studies Vol.1 (Nov. 2013) 51-60

ⓒ2013 Journal of Asian Network for GIS-based Historical Studies 51

A Preliminary Study on how G.I.S. Know-How Can Spatially Repre-

sent the Distribution of Nineteenth Century Illegal Gambling Appre-

hensions in the Province of Manila

MARCO STEFAN B. LAGMAN Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of the Philippines-Diliman

Abstract: Considering the wealth of historical data available on the Philippines, the traditional approach of archival research

has long been used to generate historical knowledge. However, this knowledge could be even broadened and further deepened

through the use of modern technological tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The use of GIS could potentially

provide a more visual, spatial, and nuanced means of understanding and analyzing archival information.

This paper aims to explore this combination of conventional documentary research with GIS tools. The Juegos Prohibidos

(Prohibited Games) police reports on illegal gambling cases, specifically on Monte and Panguingue, were given visual represen-

tation through maps in order to gain a better understanding of illegal card gambling behavior of the inhabitants of the Province of

Manila who were arrested from the 1880s to the 1890s.

The use of mapping technology provides a richer and deeper understanding of Filipino behavior during the last years of Span-

ish colonial rule. Not only can the use of this technology contribute to the fields of history and geography in the Philippines, it

can also promote the feasibility of utilizing GIS know-how in order to maximize other information gathered from archival rec-

ords pertaining to the Philippines.

Keywords: gambling, historical geography, Juegos Prohibidos, nineteenth century Manila

1. Introduction

Gambling as an activity was said to have been observed in the

Philippines well before the arrival of western colonizers. By the

late nineteenth century, games that involved betting with money

involved had become a regular source of entertainment among

the country’s inhabitants (Le Roy 1905; Bowring 1963; Fernan-

dez 1990; Bankoff 1991; Mallat 2012). Although certain forms

of gambling allowed the state to collect a significant amount of

revenue (Bankoff 1991), Spanish authorities nonetheless regu-

lated some forms of gambling while deciding to ban others.

With respect to card games, panguingue, a version of rummy

that used Spanish cards or Baraja Espanol (Ledesma 2011) that

was said to be popular with both older individuals and women

(Mallat 2012), was allowed in certain places and times (Fernan-

dez 1990). On the other hand, monte, a fast-playing Spanish

card game (Mallat 2012) wherein a player had to bet on either

two top or two bottom cards that have been dealt face up (Lara

2008), was considered an illegal activity irrespective of context

(Mallat 2012). While panguingue and monte still had its share of

enthusiasts until the late 1900s (Lara 2008, Ledesma 2011,

Szanton 1972), these games are no longer popular in contempo-

rary Philippine society.

As part of their program to curb illegal gambling, the Spanish

government assigned its police forces, particularly their crack

guardia civil units to implement their laws against illicit gaming

and to arrest those who violated such policies. The activities of

these units in their areas of jurisdiction such as the Province of

Manila led to successful raids against panguingue and monte

players which were reflected in the police reports written down

and submitted by such personnel called Juegos Prohibidos (pro-

hibited games) during the waning years of colonial rule in the

1800s. These documents, which usually followed a certain for-

mat with respect to the details they provided, have proven useful

in recreating particular facets of Philippine social life in the last

decades of Spanish rule as can be observed in the landmark

work of Bankoff (1996) on criminal activity in Filipino society

under colonial rule in the 1800s.

This paper argues, however, that the temporal, demographic,

and geographic data found within the Juegos Prohibidos can be

an even richer source of spatial insights and analyses if these

archival documents were used hand-in-hand with Geographic

Information System (GIS) techniques. As such, it is the re-

searcher’s hope that this paper can demonstrate that the use of

such tools on archival data that can be geographically located

with a fair amount accuracy can further maximize the usefulness

of archival sources and thus encourage other historians and ge-

ographers interested in Philippine history to employ GIS as a

common and preferred tool in future historico-geographical

studies.

2. Methodology: From Nineteenth Century Po-

lice Report to GIS-Derived Map

The process of transforming Juegos Prohibidos Monte and

Panguingue arrests into points in various maps with different

features or symbols required the following: a) the creation of a

database containing geographic and demographic information of

each recorded arrest, b) the plotting of these aforementioned

cases as specific geographic points in a map, and c) the genera-

tion of base and thematic maps grounded on characteristics

contained in the said database.

The generation of a database for roughly 195 identified gam-

bling arrests and their easy manipulation required the tabulation

of the following information on an MS Excel spreadsheet:

A) Town/district where the specific apprehension occurred;

B) Present-day name of the aforementioned town or district;

C) Specific barrio (village) or street where the gamblers

were caught;

D) Year and month when the said incident occurred;

Article



E) Number of players and number of males and females in

the apprehended group;

F) Ethnicity of those who were arrested (indio, chino mixed,

chino, Spanish)

G) Social status of those who were arrested (low, medium,

high)

H) Place where the arrest occurred (house, boat, farmland,

empty lot, bamboo grove, wilderness)

I) Time of apprehension (daytime, nighttime)

J) Escapees (Yes/No)

K) Amount of money confiscated

L) Specific archival source

It is clear that the different classifications and

sub-classifications of the aforementioned information will lead

to the generation of thematic maps containing consistent specif-

ic points with different symbols and colors representing differ-

ent descriptions. Of particular importance are those that pertain

to the specific locations of the arrests. It was observed that,

surprisingly, majority of the names and absolute locations of the

towns and barrios have remained stable, with only their classi-

fications changing from village to the barangay, the current

smallest Philippine political unit, while those villages located

near the borders of two towns may sometimes have become a

component of a present-day nearby city in Metro Manila. This

contention was verified through the location of these specific

places through Google Earth and through other readily available

written documentary evidence (Mallat 2012; U.S. Adjutant

General’s Office 1898; Sanger, Gannett and Olmstead 1905). As

for the streets that were identified, some throughways now have

new names that were still identified in Google Earth, while oth-

ers could no longer be determined. Roughly sixty (60) areas and

streets that could no longer be ascertained had to be removed

from the database due to their lack of specific locations.

Given the limits imposed by the Spanish colonial police re-

ports, it was decided that any spatial or map analysis can only be

done at the regional level. This scale of analysis also took into

consideration the geographic extent of all recorded cases, spe-

cifically the location of the farthest points. The highest level of

precision attained in the research was at the street level, but

majority of identified sites exist today as present-day barangays.

Centroids were employed to plot all points in order to address

gaps in precision, while the difficulties presented by the over-

lapping of multiple cases in a single point was dealt with by

randomly offsetting succeeding points in order to differentiate

them vis-à-vis other cases.

Because there is a paucity of maps representing the Province

of Manila, especially ones that have a clear two-dimensional

coordinate system, and given the relative stability of the loca-

tions identified in the reports until present times, Google Earth

was used in plotting all identifiable points. While this same

procedure could have been done using a gazetteer in ArcGIS, a

commonly used integrated package of geographic information

science software applications (ESRI 2004), there was no availa-

ble data that would have made the latter program useable.

Clearly the procedure employed in plotting the points was

rather lenient. Such an approach was unavoidable due to certain

constraints and considerations. For one, the usefulness of his-

torical data greatly depends on what was recorded, and therefore,

its accuracy and precision is limited by whatever information is

available. The study intends to produce maps that can be utilized

for visual spatial analysis of gambling behavior during the latter

Spanish period in the Province of Manila. As such the mapping

process was more for illustrative than statistical purposes and

did not require a very high level of accuracy and precision.

Moreover, place names have remained fairly stable over time, as

a good number of nominal locations still exist to this day. The

only difference is that, due to improvements in geospatial tech-

nologies and the demands of modern day policymaking and

planning, boundaries are more or less clearly delineated, where-

as in the past, naming and locating places was more arbitrary

and their boundaries were not yet clearly established. Other

places that did not retain their old names were only renamed. It

can also be argued that all other spatial characteristics (extent,

length, location, boundaries, and neighboring localities) have

most likely remained intact. Proof of this is that the current

boundaries of Metro Manila approximate that of the late nine-

teenth century Province of Manila minus two towns – Montal-

ban and San Mateo.

As mentioned earlier, there were several cases in the initial

database that lacked or had insufficient spatial information and

thus could not be plotted in a map. Sufficiency was also decided

given the abovementioned considerations. Useable geographic

data led to the generation of place marks that were grouped into

a single place folder and exported as a Keyhole Markup Lan-

guage (KML) file, which is a type of file format employed to

present geographic information in browsers such as Google

Earth or Google Maps (Google Developers: KML Tutorial no

date). This KML file was then imported into ArcGIS using the

conversion function included in the ArcToolbox (“KML to Lay-

er”), an ArcGIS software that allows for geographic processing

functions such as data management, data conversion and ge-

ocoding (ESRI 2004).

The imported KML had a field containing identification (ID),

which are numbers stored as text, for each point. Another col-

umn containing numerical information was created and calcu-

lated from the ID field to create an identical field as a back-up to

ensure that the database can be joined. The Excel spreadsheet

containing the initial database was also further processed to fix

bugs encountered when joining the table with the spatial data.

This processing activity included the following:

o Removal of spaces in field headers

o Re-encoding of numbers stored as text

o Spell checks and rundown for typographical errors

o Re-classification of data (e.g. generalization)

o Re-expression of string information containing numerical

data into mathematically-operable format (done specifi-

cally for the column indicating amount of different types

of coin money involved)

A join between the working (bug-free) database and the result-

ant layer was then made after which maps were then created by



setting proper symbols for each map.

The base and thematic maps all underwent Adobe Photoshop

for aesthetic purposes, and this was accomplished through the

following steps:

1. Base Map. To achieve the ‘old map’ effect, a stained

paper texture was imported as a background layer. Its

color balance was adjusted to achieve the desired effect.

A simple map was overlaid, and the polygon depicting

the landmass was removed, leaving the white area de-

picting Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay. The opacity of

these white polygons was subdued. The resulting effect

was achieved - it now seems like the landmass was

drawn over a light colored paper.

a. Since the map was exported in A4 size with no

margins, the map had to be resized to fit within

the borders.

b. Fonts used were High Tower Text and a variant

of the Garamond family. Font spacing was

slightly increased for titles and headers.

2. Thematic maps. Other themes were exported from

ArcGIS in JPEG format, and imported in Photoshop as a

smart layer. The layers were rasterized and its white

spaces were removed either by manually deleting white

spaces using quick selection (magic wand) or by apply-

ing a blend mode that removes white from the layer

(multiply). Note that the themes were exported with a

line feature depicting present-day boundaries of LGUs

for reference in resizing. In this procedure, the lower left

corner of the new layer is anchored on the lower left

corner of the base map. Afterwards, the new layer is

resized from the upper right corner and down, carefully

maintaining the aspect ratio of the layer being resized

(holding down the Shift key). The resized layer is then

adjusted further, referring to the LGU boundaries to en-

sure that the points overlay, distortions are entirely

avoided and warping/offsets is minimized.

a. The legends were exported in the same manner –

A4 sized JPEG files containing the legend of

each map were also imported in Photoshop and

resized in exactly the same manner as the maps

so as to maintain their scale. Extra care was tak-

en in creating a legend for proportionally sym-

bolized maps.

b. Upon completion of each map, these were

grouped and turned off whenever a new map was

created. This left a separable base map where

more layers could be added later.

3. The Maps and their Analyses

3.1 The location of gambling incidents

Figure 1 Province of Manila base map.

The Province of Manila (Provincia de Manila), which was

formally established in the latter part of the 1850s, was com-

posed of practically the same towns that made up the former

Province of Tondo (Lemps, 2000). With the exception of the

towns of Montalban and San Mateo on its northeastern portions,

the said province approximates the land area and the location of

present-day Metro Manila. It had a land area of 264 square miles

or 684 square kilometers and was composed of 23 towns (pueb-

los) and one city, the Ciudad de Manila, which was also consid-

ered as its administrative and economic center. From Manila

City, the northernmost and easternmost towns, Caloocan and

Marikina, respectively, were approximately 7 miles away, while

Muntinlupa, the farthest town south of the capital, was 21 miles

away (Adjutant General’s Office 1898). Manila City was

clearly the most populous settlement, but there were also heavy

concentrations of people in nearby towns of Navotas and Tam-

bobong (Malabon) along the north as well as along the eastern

towns of the province Pasig, Marikina, Taguig (Sanger, Gannett,

& Olmstead 1905).

Even by simply observing the database that was developed

for this study, it is clear that Manila Province was the site of

many illegal gambling apprehensions. Yet the development of a

map indicating the distribution of these arrests all over the area

(See Figure 2.) yields quite a few insights that are easier to ar-

rive at using spatial tools. For one, while monte and panguingue

arrests tend to concentrate in Manila City and then spill over

towards neighboring towns along its northern (Navotas and

Malabon) and southern (Pineda, Malibay, Parañaque) portions,

there is also a distinct concentration of abbreviated gambling



activities along the province’s eastern towns, especially the con-

tiguous Makati, Pasig, Taguig, and Pateros pueblos, all of which,

with the exception of Makati, do not share any borders with

Manila.

Also, while panguingue activities seem to be greater in num-

ber compared to monte apprehensions, there seems to be no

clear pattern with respect to the distribution of these arrests.

Thus, it implies that similar to what has been argued in several

accounts, gambling activity during the nineteenth century Phil-

ippines was quite widespread.

Figure 2 Distribution of monte and panguingue gambling

arrests, Manila Province.

The high intensity of illicit gambling in Manila City, as

shown in Figure 2, merits attention, and mapping at a smaller

scale may be able to demonstrate which specific portions of the

capital these activities occurred. According to Lemps (2000), in

the nineteenth century, Manila City was named La Ciudad y Sus

Arrabales, which in English means “The Capital and its Sur-

rounding Areas” (See Figure 3.). Here, the capital refers to In-

tramuros, or the walled city of Manila while the surrounding

areas outside of the walls (Extramuros) referred to the eleven

nearby communities that bordered the capital (Adjutant Gen-

eral’s Office 1898; Lemps, 2000). Figure 4 below clearly

demonstrates how majority of gambling activities successfully

interrupted by the colonial police forces were situated in the

Binondo area, a known commercial area filled with businesses

owned by Chinese and half-Chinese merchants, which include,

among others, gambling houses (Mallat 2012).

Figure 3 Map showing the component communities of Manila

City.

Figure 4 Distribution of Gambling Apprehensions, Ciudad de

Manila.

3.2 Urban-rural distribution of monte and panguingue

There are different means of classifying specific geographic

entities as being predominantly urban or rural entities. From an

economic perspective, it has become standard practice in the

Philippines to classify places where the main types of employ-

ment is non-agricultural (i.e., manufacturing, services) as urban

areas (Serote 2009). While Spanish police reports on gambling

seem to be inconsistent regarding the occupations of those ar-



rested for illegal gaming, studies by Bankoff (1996) and Lag-

man (n.p.) in both Manila City and the Province of Manila sug-

gest that majority of those arrested were likely to have la-

bor-intensive, service sector-based occupations.

The urbanity and rural nature of a specific area can also be

determined through the existence of infrastructure that is usually

associated with urban areas such as the existence of streets or

street plan, a commercial area, and other community-based fa-

cilities. As late as the 1970s, one of the criteria for determining

if a barangay or village could be considered an urban area was if

it had a clear street pattern (National Statistical Coordination

Board 2003), a feature that can easily be discerned in the colo-

nial police reports that were studied. On the other hand, Filipi-

nos do consider places that are called barrios or sitios as com-

munities or components of provinces that are more rural in na-

ture. Fortunately, the documents from the Juegos Prohibidos do

provide details with respect to the location of apprehensions, as

to whether they occurred in areas along streets or in barrios or

sitios. If these terms, especially the existence of streets, would

be used as markers of the urban or rural character of crime

scenes, it could then be argued that most gambling incidents in

Manila Province, with the exception of those that happened in

the Ciudad de Manila, were likely to have occurred in more

rural than urban settings (See Figure 5.).

Figure 5 Gambling incidents in urban and rural areas.

3.3 Hiding places

Foreign accounts about the Philippines in the 1800s make

mention of the gambling places that Filipinos used to hide their

illicit gaming. Mallat (2012) and Bankoff (1991) narrate how

those who gamble would usually utilize structures such as

houses to evade authorities, and the spatial representation of the

precise place where inhabitants of the localities of Manila Prov-

ince gambled supports such contentions. All in all, almost 80%

of apprehensions actually led to the police arresting people who

were into illegal card games inside houses and other structures.

Nonetheless, it is important to point out how there were still

instances where Filipinos, especially those of lower class origins,

employed farms, open lots, bamboo groves and even portions of

sitio despoblados or wilderness areas to hide from the long arm

of the law (Lagman n.p.).

The information on the map below (See Figure 6.) indicates

that, while there were very few cases of people using the natural

environment as a site of their card gaming, the area covering

Pineda, which makes up part of present-day Pasay, and the town

of San Pedro de Makati, had wilderness areas or woodlands

where illicit gambling was played out. In relation this, it is im-

portant to note that these two places, which are now heavily

urbanized, were considered as rough country and part of the

province’s backwoods. Pineda back then was considered a vil-

lage (despite its nearness to the capital) where betel nut, an ag-

ricultural crop, grew abundantly. The dense growth of these

crops made it a very rural area where brigands could hide from

the government. San Pedro de Makati, on the other hand, was

said to be a place that was conducive for convalescents (Mallat

2012; 108, 112).

Figure 6 Gambling incidents by place of arrest.

It can be observed that areas classified as wilderness places

where gamblers were caught were all located outside of Ciudad

de Manila, with three of five (60%) of despoblado cases occur-

ring just outside the provincial center, and two wilderness inci-

dents happening along the eastern and western fringes of Manila

Province. In addition, gambling incidents where the exact nature

of the place could not be determined tended to concentrate in

peripheral areas such as the eastern towns of Pateros and Pasig

and the southern pueblo of Las Piñas.



3.4 More a daytime than a nocturnal activity

In his landmark work Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms

of Peasant Resistance, Scott (1985) argued that throughout his-

tory, the resistance of marginalized groups against the more

dominant sectors of society, such as the more privileged classes

and the state, rarely came in the form of direct confrontation and

rebellion and instead manifested itself in more indirect forms

that denied the latter of the ability to make claims on them. In

essence, evading the police and violating laws against certain

forms of gambling through uncoordinated means and done by

individuals whom the authorities would have difficulty identi-

fying, such as those who do their illicit activities within struc-

tures, are examples of a weapon of the weak.

Common sense would dictate that doing activities in the cover

of darkness, especially in the outdoors, would be a reasonable

form of resistance and evasion by those who still want to gam-

ble despite mandated restrictions. According to a previous qual-

itative study (Lagman n.p.) of monte and panguingue arrests by

the colonial police yielded several examples of gambling sus-

pects who also employed the nighttime darkness to play their

favorite games. But a more quantitative and spatial analysis of

police report data demonstrates that those who got caught play-

ing in the evening belonged to the minority, as most abbreviated

gambling sessions were held during the day (at least 60% of

all recorded cases). This was especially true for Manila City

where majority of the card game sessions that were raided by

the agents of the state happened in houses and other permanent

structures. The eastern towns Pateros and Pasig again seemed to

have been the recipient of several night-time raids by the colo-

nial police. The same observations can be made for the nearby

pueblo of Makati (See Figure 7.).

Figure 7 Daytime and nighttime distribution of gambling

arrests.

3.5 Escape: An act of last resort

Police authorities would usually catch their targets while they

were immersed in their illegal card games. For the most part,

apprehended parties would cooperate with the police and would

not resist arrest. Again, it can be determined through a spatial

representation that majority of those who were caught gambling

in Manila City did not resist arrest, and the same can be ob-

served in the northern towns of Navotas and Malabon (See Fig-

ure 8.). But the farther the apprehensions were from the epicen-

ter of apprehensions along Manila’s Binondo District, the pro-

portion of gamblers escaping from the authorities seemed to

increase. This becomes noticeable especially in the towns east

and south of Manila’s southern edge such as the former pueblo

of Pandacan, Pineda, and Malibay (present-day Pasay), Las

Piñas and the Pasig-Pateros-Taguig region.

Figure 8 Illicit gaming escapes and apprehension incidents.

3.6 Small groups and predominantly working class

Le Roy (1905), in his account of the Philippines, mentioned

the penchant of Filipinos to gamble. But what separates his nar-

rations from other western visitors of the nineteenth and turn of

the century Philippines such as Mallat (2012) and Bowring

(1963) is that he made known his opinion that more well-to-do

members of Philippine society were able to avoid getting caught

by the police as they did their gambling within the safety of

their stone-made homes. Bankoff (1996) also mentioned that the

typical prisoner in the Philippines in the 1800s, regardless of the

transgression committed, was usually male, poor and illiterate

and held a job that paid in coin, the preferred betting item in

gambling sessions.

Philippine society during the Spanish period was highly strat-



ified as people were legally categorized based on their race or

racial mix, and titles (i.e., Don) were used by people to denote

individual status (Larkin 1972). For this study, Spaniards, peo-

ple of Caucasian heritage and members of the native elite were

classified as members of the upper class, the more enterprising

ethnic Chinese, who paid more taxes than the members of the

local population (Mallat 2012) were categorized as individuals

of middle status, while untitled natives or plain indios belonged

to the low status category. Figure 9 below clearly indicates that

most successful apprehensions led to the arrest of ordinary Fili-

pinos as they accounted for a vast majority of arrests in almost

all the towns that were included in the study. Very few Spaniards

and members of the local elite were caught by the authorities,

and those who were arrested resided primarily in Manila, espe-

cially in an area called Sampaloc, the northeastern end of the

city, with isolated cases in Marikina and Taguig. The ethnic

Chinese, on the other hand, were primarily arrested in Binondo,

a known prosperous area during the late 1800s (Agoncillo 1990)

until today; and even during the late 1950s, was recorded by

Philippine government as having a very high number of Chinese

residents (Amyot 1973). It should be noted, however, that there

were a few recorded cases in current-day southeastern Manila,

Makati and San Felipe Nery (modern-day Mandaluyong). Over-

all, it can be observed that successful raids by the police led to

the arrest of relatively small groups of gamblers, which ranged

from one person to sixteen individuals, with 60% of apprehen-

sions netting not more than five players (See Figure 10.).

Figure 9 Number of participants per gambling incident and

their social status.

Figure 10 Number of apprehended players per police raid.

3.7 Gambling as more of a male than a female preoccupa-

tion

The database illustrates that gambling was predominantly a

male activity. Overall, 53% of all arrests involved at least one

female player, but it was only in the game of panguingue that

there was a higher rate of female involvement at 65% of all

cases. Nonetheless, only in 37% of all panguingue police reports

were the number of arrested women more than or equal to the

number of accosted males. The map below represents that ma-

jority of cases involved more males than females for the most

part. Nonetheless, converting the information into map form

allows one to realize that there are still certain portions of the

province where there were relatively a higher proportion of

women card players who were apprehended. This included parts

of present-day southeastern Manila and the then Pandacan town

(now part of Manila City), the Pineda (Pasay) area, the southern

towns of Las Piñas and Muntinlupa, as well as the contiguous

area comprising the eastern part of Makati, Pateros and Pasig

(See Figure 11.).



Figure 11 Gambling incidents by sex.

3.8 Gambling with relatively small stakes

Whether the players were male or female, native or of foreign

descent, it is also worth determining the amounts of money in-

volved in these activities, and how the range of amounts were

distributed in the province. One way to learn if the money used

in betting was of a small or large amount during that time is to

compare these monies with the wages commonly received by

the people within the same period. Fortunately, the Philippine

Census of 1903 provides us with a means of comparing confis-

cated gambling money with people’s wages during the late

1890s. People who did menial labor in Manila and other urban

areas would have daily wages that ranged from around P.20 to

P.75 per day. A seamstress and a laundryman would only receive

P.20 for a hard day’s work, a daily laborer usually received P.37,

while a carpenter was a little bit better off as he, on the average,

would receive P.62 a day form his employer. On the other hand,

a tailor could command a daily rate of P. 75 and a clerk would

receive a monthly pay of P25 (Sanger, Gannett & Olmstead

1905). It should be noted that almost half (47%) of all police

raids against panguingue and monte gamblers never exceeded

one P1. If an average gambling session involved around five to

six players, then most sessions had individuals who, on the av-

erage, brought coins that never exceeded the money that an

ordinary person would earn in a day. As such, the amounts being

gambled by individuals would ordinarily be quite modest. It is

clear in the map below (See Figure 12.) that small gambling

money being betted in sessions was fairly scattered all over the

Province of Manila. What is also quite clear is that it is in the

Manila City area, particularly in the District of Binondo, where

amounts of P10 or more were wagered the most.

Figure 12 Distribution of amounts of money wagered in gam-

bling sessions that were abbreviated.

3.9 Gambling in the midst of a revolution

Basic texts in Philippine history would note that it was also

during the latter part of the 1800s that Filipinos were led by a

group called the Katipunan, whose members were predomi-

nantly from the towns of Manila Province and nearby areas

(Guerrero 1998). The first battles between the Filipino revolu-

tionaries and the Spanish colonial forces began in San Juan del

Monte, one of the towns of Manila Province. The said incident

led to the declaration of martial law in eight provinces in the

island of Luzon, including the Province of Manila, and this was

soon followed by continuous fighting between the two groups in

portions of Manila Province and in other areas where such a

state of emergency was declared (Quirino 1978; Guerrero 1998).

Despite being in the midst of great social upheaval and un-

certainty, inhabitants of the province could still not stop them-

selves from gambling (See Figure 13.). Roughly 13% of all

police reports that were examined involved incidents that oc-

curred from August 1896, the month the revolution started, up to

1897, a period wherein fighting between the Filipinos and the

Spanish colonial forces was still on going. Apparently, trends

during war-time mirrored that of more tranquil periods as the

Chinese still actively gambled in Manila’s Binondo District and

ordinary Filipinos still in different parts of Manila Province.

What should be noted, however, is that the relative size of the

groups that did gamble during the outbreak of the Philippine

Revolution was relatively larger than the usual five player group

size during peace time.



Figure 13 Distribution of gambling incidents during the initial

phase of the Philippine Revolution.

4. Recommendations and future directions

Historical research using archival data on nineteenth century

Philippines has been very effective in reconstructing aspects of

the lives of people during that period that may likely be ne-

glected (Bankoff 1996). While such type of conventional re-

search usually focuses on the socioeconomic aspects of nine-

teenth century Philippine life, modern tools provided by Geo-

graphic Information Science can help researchers maximize the

usefulness of their sources by adding a spatial component to

their analysis and understanding of the past. Through the geo-

graphic information provided by this paper on the distribution

and nature of illicit gambling activities of the inhabitants of the

Province of Manila, it is hoped that other archival researchers

would warm up to the possibility of incorporating GIS tools as

part of their menu of aids in their studies, especially in using

sources that can be geographically located with a fair amount of

accuracy.

The Juegos Prohibidos is by no means the only archival

source in the Philippine National Archives that can yield data

that can be spatially represented. From the past experiences of

this researcher, other materials such as urban real estate taxes

(Fincas Urbana), business permits (Contribucion Industrial),

land sales and transactions from notarial bundles (Protocolos),

and even fish corral permit lists (Pesquerias) are only some of

the bundle types on the Philippine National Archives in Manila

that are readily available to historico-geographical researchers

who are interested in employing GIS tools in their studies.

References

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[27] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Province of

Manila base map>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil

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1992-2010.

[28] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Distribution of

monte and panguingue gambling arrests, Manila Province>. Scale

1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September

2012. Using ArcView GIS. Version 10. Redlands, CA: Environmen-

tal Systems Research Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.

[29] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Map showing

the component communities of Manila City>. Scale 1:300,000.

Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Us-

ing ArcView GIS. Version 10. Redlands, CA: Environmental Sys-

tems Research Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.


Gambling Apprehensions, Ciudad de Manila>. Scale 1:300,000.

Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Us-



[31] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Gambling inci-

dents in urban and rural areas>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City,

Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Using ArcView

GIS. Version 10. Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems Research

Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.


dents by place of arrest>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City, Philip-

pines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Using ArcView



[33] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Daytime and

nighttime distribution of gambling arrests>. Scale 1:300,000. Que-

zon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Us-



[34] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Illicit gaming

escapes and apprehension incidents>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City,

Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Using ArcView



[35] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Number of

participants per gambling incident and their social status>. Scale

1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September

2012. Using ArcView GIS. Version 10. Redlands, CA: Environmen-

tal Systems Research Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.

[36] Tingin, Neil Eneri and Lagman, Marco Stefan B. <Number of

apprehended players per police raid>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon

City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin, September 2012. Us-




dents by sex>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil En-

eri Tingin, September 2012. Using ArcView GIS. Version 10. Red-

lands, CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.,

1992-2010.


amounts of money wagered in gambling sessions that were abbrevi-

ated>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri Tingin,

September 2012. Using ArcView GIS. Version 10. Redlands, CA:

Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.


gambling incidents during the initial phase of the Philippine Revo-

lution>. Scale 1:300,000. Quezon City, Philippines: Neil Eneri

Tingin, September 2012. Using ArcView GIS. Version 10. Redlands,

CA: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., 1992-2010.

Acknowledgment The author wishes to acknowledge Mr. Neil

Eneri Tingin for his invaluable assistance in the production of

all maps used in this paper.