The History of the Burgis

Winner, 1987 Manila Critics Circle National Book Award for History

“Burgis ka ba?” The answers we got to this straightforward question (except for one incorrigible subject) were all hot denials—proof that in today’s popular usage, burgis is decidedly a bad word. The burgis, many seem to feel, are to blame for the mess we find ourselves in today. Is their destiny really to be the villains of Philippine history?

A chronicle of 500 years of Philippine history, Mariel N. Francisco and Fe Maria C. Arriola’s book traces the evolution of the ‘burgis’ — the Filipino term for bourgeois that was first used as a pejorative term to describe the nouveau riche. First published on the aftermath of the People Power revolution in 1986, the book offers a reading of the privileged class and their profound impact on Philippine society.

Published in 1987 by GCF Books