Marking its 84th founding anniversary, the Philippine National Historical Society (PNHS) successfully held its 46th National Conference on Local and National History at Benguet State University (BSU) in La Trinidad, Benguet.

Around 200 participants joined this year’s gathering, with the largest delegation coming from the Notre Dame of Jolo College, numbering more than 20 members, aside from a strong contingent from the host institution. The three-day conference—featuring 24 scholarly presentations—was partly funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, with the support of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the Philippine Social Science Council.

The opening program included messages from BSU vice president for Academic Affairs Dr. Janet Pablo and PNHS president Dr. Bernardita Reyes-Churchill, followed by a cultural show by the BSU Dramatic Arts Club and a unity dance performed by participants to the rhythmic beat of gongs.

The conference featured dynamic presentations on themes such as ethnic identities, local histories, historiography, and cultural worldviews. Among the early sessions were Stanley Anongos of BSU, who presented “Ethnic Classification in the Cordillera, 1898–2000,” and Joao Paulo Reginaldo of University of the Philippines (UP) Baguio, who delivered “Towards an Entangled and Complex (Ethno)Histories of Southern Cordillera.”

George Borrinaga of the University of San Carlos discussed “Social Identities and Their Contested Meanings in Leyte-Samar History,” followed by a recorded presentation on “Moro and Non-Moro Indigenous Relations in Colonial Mindanao” by Abubacar Ali and Noralia Ibrahim of Mindanao State University (MSU) Marawi.

NHCP Commissioner Cecilia Tiangan of MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (IIT) presented “Matigsalug in Search of Identity and History: 1975-1994,” while Abdul Majid Abdul Azis of Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology examined “Deconstructing the Dansalan Declaration’s Impact on Moro Exclusion After 1935.”

Other notable papers included Fr. Dennis Amarante, OP of the University of Santo Tomas and Herwin Jayson Manuel of UP Baguio with “The Dominicans in Camiling, Tarlac: Missionary Activities and Contributions to the Town (1838–1898),” and LA Piluden of UP Baguio with “The Interventionist History of William Henry Scott and the Making of Sagada Igorot Identity.”

Rounding off the first day were presentations by James Paw, “La Trinidad, Benguet: Its Development as a 19th-Century Cosmopolitan Township in the Cordillera Highlands”; Kristine Baniqued-De la Cruz of BSU, “Kasaysayang Panlipunan ng Pamilihan ng Baguio City, 1945–1970”; Lee Anthony Neri and colleagues of UP Diliman, “The History and Archaeology of Fort Almonte”; and Theodore Ricardo Bautista of Ateneo de Manila University, “Sa Ginhalinan it Akean: A Postcolonial Analysis on the Talibong Tradition of Taong Labas in Aklan.”

The second day opened with papers by Shaina Lucyao of BSU, “Pagiging Asul ng Pulang Ilog: Ang Ugnayan ng Politika, Ekonomiya, at Lipunan sa Pagbabago ng Ilog”; Jolan Saluria of Polytechnic University of the Philippines Manila, “Ang Mindoro sa Hamon ng Pangangayaw-Moro: Ang Kolonyal na Estratehiyang Espanyol Tungo sa Repopulasyon ng Mindoro sa Ika-19 Dantaon”; Aldous Tracy Rubio of UP Baguio, “Tierra de los Montes Ytalones y Ysinais: Tracing the 18th-Century Reducciones in the Caraballo Mountains”; and Rolando Borrinaga of UP Manila in Palo, Leyte, “Revisiting the Battle of Catubig in 1900.”

Subsequent presenters included Paul Anthony Colina of UP Diliman with “A Quiet Town in the Midst of War: The Municipality of Tiwi, Albay During the Japanese Occupation, 1941–1945”; independent scholar Emma Liza Dacquigan with “A Family History of an Igorot Nikkei Jin”; Jihan Bacug of MSU Marawi with “The Kapaygo sa Ragat Ritual among the Iranuns of Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur”; and Ruth Batani and May Angeline Lapuz of BSU with “Benguet Spirituality, Health, and Well-Being: A Metasynthesis.”

Capping the second day was the soft launch of the 2024–2025 edition of The Journal of History, featuring papers from the 2023 Dumaguete and 2024 Iligan conferences, followed by a book raffle of more than a hundred titles and scholarly journals.

The third day was devoted to a tour of Museo Kordilyera in Baguio City, along with visits to heritage sites and landmarks in Baguio and La Trinidad.

The next PNHS National Conference will be held in Catarman, Northern Samar, in partnership with the provincial government of Northern Samar and the University of Eastern Philippines. The event will be a milestone occasion, coinciding with the 85th anniversary of the Philippine National Historical Society in 2026.