WRITTEN BY FRANCESA JANA SANTIAGO

The global phenomenon Drag Race has finally sashayed its way into the Philippines! The first-ever season, which can be streamed worldwide through WOW Presents Plus, gathered 12 queens from all over the nation to see how they will prove their charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent. The competition is hosted by Eat Bulaga!’s Paolo Ballesteros and features RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Jiggly Caliente as a permanent judge. But before the show was even made possible, drag in itself was a struggling art in the country, not because it was new but because it was taboo. Still, hints of it have been found throughout history proving that drag has and always will be a part of Filipino culture.

The Philippines today is home to a massive LGBTQ+ community however it’s more of a tolerant country than an accepting one as homophobia is still active. But Filipino queerness dates back as early as pre-colonial times when most of Asogs or Filipino Male Shamans were either homosexuals who practiced cross-dressing or transgender women— which were only seen as “threatening” and “primitive” when the Spaniards colonized. But drag didn’t stop there as during the American occupation, Crispulo “Pulong” Luna became known for bravely dressing up in Baro’t Sayas and Kimonos. When the Japanese arrived, drag exotic and burlesque performers like Walterina Markova emerged however they were soon turned into comfort gays by the soldiers.

The country’s love for beauty competitions lit up the dark for even the queer community and in the early 50’s, urban poor districts of Manila started discreetly holding their own gay pageants to entertain neighborhoods and earn money. The concept of drag was soon given representation through movies that featured the king of Philippine comedy, Dolphy, such as Facifica Falayfay (1969), My Father, My Mother (1978) and a film inspired by the story of Walterina, Markova: Comfort Gay (2000). Unfortunately throughout the 2000s, this progress gradually declined when femme homosexuality and cross-dressing began to be portrayed as objects of ridicule in comedy films.

Moving forward, the emergence of queer-centric clubs in the Philippines, specifically in Manila, further strengthened the LGBTQ+ community as well as the drag industry. Drag would eventually play a vital role in more authentic forms of Philippine mainstream entertainment like primetime television, theater and concerts as well as in the forefront of LGBTQ+ activism in the country. The art form extended even to the Filipinos in the diaspora as both a means of gender expression and a serious career profession. These bits in history are clear evidences of not only the resilience built in Filipino queers, queens and kings alike, but also the impossible lengths they are capable of reaching. Throughout the different eras of discrimination and abuse, drag continued to thrive, evolve and prove that its industry is worth supporting.