As student of Philippine studies know, any serious scholarly work on any aspect of Philippine history and culture must necessarily begin with these earlier efforts whether it be in art, linguistics, ethnology, literature, bibliography, and the various ratifications of history. Lately, however, as a result of the lack of facility in the Spanish language, many Filipino students and even some of the so-called scholars, of Philippine studies have relied mainly on translations when available, - which is very seldom - and have thus cut themselves off from the mainstream of Spanish scholarly efforts in Philippine studies.