Philippines Ethnographic Weapons Museum

[Nonoy Tan]

The Philippines currently also incorporates many Bangsamoro. Will Moro weapons be exhibited? Is this a museum of weapons from the Republic of the Philippines, or the "Filipino" peoples of Luzon and Visayas who were under Spanish rule and part of their empire? Any political or cultural undertones here? Just something to consider maybe?

Also, will this include armor, shields, spears, muskets, 'modern' guns, Hokkien weapons, Spanish colonial arms, American arms, and Japanese invasionary arms? Is this a blade-only thing? Is this all ethnographic arms? Is this all ethnographic arms of the Philippines?

In my opinion, one of the museum's primary objective would be to provide an idea of how the weapons looked like before the colonization of the Philippines, as manifested by weapons coming from all over the Philippine archipelago - axes, shields, blades, bows and arrrows, clubs, blowguns, etc.

I think the pre-colonial period in the Philippines ought to be highlighted in consideration of the fact that much information and material culture has been lost through centuries of colonization and "modernization." The resident Filipino would be the primary audience. At the end of the day, it would be he/she who will have to determine the relevance of the museum to his/her country's future.