Celebrity Historian Xiao Chua Responds to Darryl Yap's Comments on Historians
This past week has been all about Maid in Malacañang. Apart from the actual film, its director Darryl Yap and Senator Imee Marcos, played by Cristine Reyes, have helped it trend, thanks to some recent comments.
One of the latest comes from Yap himself, who gave his honest assessment of historians, in an interview with Boy Abunda.
"Ï don’t believe that historians should be a profession, I believe that historians are researchers," said the director. "Masisipag sila na kumakalap ng mga impormasyon."
Seemingly invalidating the entire profession itself, Yap's words drew the ire of historians, including Xiao Chua.
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Being a historian SHOULD not be a profession?
— Xiao Chua (@Xiao_Chua) August 4, 2022
I am just an ordinary person but with whatever little power I have, I will give my middle finger to you.
“Being a historian should not be a profession? I am an ordinary person but with whatever little power I have, I will give my middle finger to you,” he posted on his social media pages.
I am humbled, by all your words of encouragement. Thanks, let's keep each other strong. Nobody said historians are perfect, so are doctors, scientists and engineers, but let us respect each other's disciplines and methods.
— Xiao Chua (@Xiao_Chua) August 5, 2022
Xiao Chua, is an academic, historian, and television personality best known for his former segment Xiao Time, where he discussed and revisited the Philippines' most important historical events. He is a lecturer at De La Salle University-Manila.
Last Wednesday, author Anne Nelson, whose publication was used as a reference as one of the film's scenes, also called out Yap's research for Maid in Malacañang.
While the movie has been chided for its supposed historical distortion, it hasn't been suspended or penalized by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board because "it does not purport to be a documentary," according to its Chair Diorella Maria "Lala" Sotto-Antonio.
Maid in Malacañang premiered on Wednesday, August 3. So far, 1,607 IMDb users have given the film a weighted average vote of 3.2/10.
