EPILOGUE I: A Historical Perspective on Naval Recruitment~ A Relationship Based on Contradiction

The two-part essay “When Mexico Calmed the Sea for Filipino Adventurer” traced Filipino sailors’ journeys across the Pacific and into the Americas, with Mexico connecting Manila to Acapulco and routes extending toward California, Louisiana, and the Gulf Coast. These epilogues provide a personal historical perspective on the history of Filipino naval recruitment.

Leon Zapanta, the first documented Filipino to join the U.S. Navy, did so in 1846, when America was still a slaveholding nation. Other Filipino sailors followed during the same era, some served in conflicts against the British, some found themselves in opposite sides of the Civil War. Their presence preceded American colonization of the Philippines by more than half a century.

The relationship changed in 1898, when the United States acquired the Philippines from Spain under the Treaty of Paris. Filipinos who had fought for independence found themselves under a new colonial power. Individual sailors entering American institutions became part of a relationship in which the United States governed an entire people.

That transformation shaped naval recruitment. In 1901, President William McKinley authorized up to 500 Filipinos for the Navy’s Insular Force. Filipinos were now recruited from a territory under American rule.

The Philippines already had universities, seminaries, an educated elite, and a deeply rooted Catholic culture. American rule established a new public school system, made English central to instruction, and promoted American civic ideals. Trade, Protestant missions, and military institutions further extended American influence. Race ran through these channels.

When Zapanta (and other Filipinos after him) entered the Navy, slavery still structured American society. The Civil War abolished slavery, but racial hierarchy endured. During the Philippine-American War, Black American soldiers were sent to fight Filipinos resisting U.S. rule. Some deserted and joined the Filipino side. The contradiction was stark: Black Americans were ordered to suppress Filipino independence while facing discrimination at home.

At the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, Filipinos were displayed as colonial subjects in an American narrative of civilization and progress. The United States was not merely governing the Philippines; it was shaping how Americans understood its people.

The sailor became the subject. The individual became the population.

Language was part of this transformation. Zapanta arrived before English became central to Philippine public education. Later generations entered American institutions speaking a language colonial policy had helped establish. America was no longer simply encountering Filipinos; it was helping shape those who would later enter American society.

After the Philippines became independent in 1946, military ties continued. Article XXVII of the 1947 Military Bases Agreement authorized voluntary enlistment of Filipino citizens in the U.S. armed forces. The provision gave the United States access to Filipino manpower without requiring the Navy to remove racial barriers or guarantee equal advancement.

A separate 1952 agreement authorized the Navy to recruit up to 1,000 Filipino men annually. Recruitment opened a path to employment and service, but enlistment did not ensure equality.

For decades, Black sailors were largely confined to steward duties, while Filipino recruits were also concentrated in service roles. Their histories differed, but both showed how race shaped access to ratings and advancement. Filipino stewards sometimes called themselves “table navigators,” a wry expression of dignity amid restricted assignments. Beneath the joke lay a serious question: why should race determine a sailor’s opportunities rather than ability?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 11246 in 1965 helped change the national climate, though neither alone transformed Navy assignments. Institutional action was also necessary.

A Filipino steward aboard USS Robinson (DD-562) sought reassignment as an electrician’s mate. Executive Officer Elmo Zumwalt Jr. supported him, but the request required multiple approvals. Later, as Chief of Naval Operations, Zumwalt pursued reforms opening more ratings to Black sailors and others restricted by racial practices. His intervention helped turn an individual request into a challenge to institutional policy. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 further strengthened the national framework against employment discrimination.

The military relationship continued to evolve. A 1966 amendment shortened the Military Bases Agreement’s original 99-year term, setting its expiration in 1991. In 1972, under President Ferdinand Marcos, a separate exchange of notes raised the Filipino Navy recruitment quota from 45 men per month to 166—about 2,000 annually—and addressed ratings eligibility, compensation, and advancement. One arrangement concerned American base rights; the other, Filipino recruitment.

Mount Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption damaged Clark Air Base and the Naval Facility at Subic Bay but did not legally terminate the agreement. That year, the Philippine Senate rejected a proposed new bases treaty, ending the American military presence at the major bases and the associated Filipino naval recruitment arrangement.

Filipino naval recruitment was never simply a story of opportunity. It was shaped by colonial legacies, changing agreements, racial restrictions, individual determination, and institutional reform. Recruitment opened the door to service; it did not guarantee equality within the Navy.

That contradiction shaped the Filipino sailor’s experience—and leads to the next question: what became of the maritime Filipino beyond the uniform?