MANILA, Philippines – The furor over restaurant Balay Dako’s mishandling of how it treated an aspin (asong Pinoy) has surfaced renewed reminders to treat the breed with as much love as any other breed in the world.
Amid the controversy, one advocate, author Ian Alfonso, saw his book Dogs in Philippine History gain recognition.
The National Book Development Board on Tuesday, September 10, announced the list of nominees for the 42nd National Book Awards happening in November, with Dogs in Philippine History being among them, under the “Best Book on History” category.
Released in 2023, the book “chronicles the Filipinos’ cultural and historical encounters with dogs since the earliest documented existence of a domesticated dog in the Philippines nearly 4,000 years ago.”
The book’s Facebook page has joined the calls to elevate Filipinos’ respect for the local canine.
“We hope that after this incident, the owners and officials of the Antonio’s Balay Dako have learned their lesson that there are Filipinos who genuinely care and love aspins,” the page said in a post.
In a separate post, the page recounted how aspins used to be celebrated in “epics, legends, and myths” before falling to its current status of often being neglected in the streets.
“We believe that history can contribute in uplifting the dignity of our very own aspins (also called aso, iro, ido, and ayam). Our ancestors celebrated them in epics, legends, and myths. Chronicler Father Francisco Ignacio Alcina, SJ wrote in 1668 about the intense ‘regard’ our ancestors had for their ayam (dog), which, according to him was “perhaps greater than among any other peoples in the world.” He also said our ancestors preferred owning an aspin than a foreign breed,” the pages said.
Now, they are “often neglected, unwanted, and discriminated [against].”
“In 1977, the late Gilda Cordero-Fernando wrote about how miserable a Philippine native dog compared to other dogs with pedigree: ‘Who has not seen him yapping and scrapping in the street, ear chewed up, a necklace of ticks around his neck, the curse of poodle owners in the neighborhood, disreputable father of illegitimate pups?’” the page said.
It added that it hopes the book can “contribute in changing the destiny of an aspin and puspin (pusang Pinoy)… Every dog deserves a loving Filipino home.”
The full list of National Book Awards nominees can be found here. – Rappler.com