YESTERDAY was Zeus Salazar's 90th birthday, celebrated among friends and admirers last night. His contribution not only to the writing of Philippine history but also to its theorizing and philosophizing is vast. You see, it is not enough for historians to spur factoids like some enthusiasts sometimes brag about; they should be able to see meaning and significance that can have larger implications on how we see our lives today.

Salazar saw a great cultural divide in Philippine history, which started when some indios were able to increase their incomes because of the opening of the colonial economy to world trade after the Galleon Trade operations were halted in the early 19th century. Some were able to send their children to school and thus were Westernized from the rest of the local population, who, even if most of the people were colonized were still able to retain much of the perspectives and concepts of the old bayan even before the Spaniards came, creatively appropriated to the acquired Catholic culture.