?THE VICE of drunkenness is so widespread among the natives... that today it seems to be something natural or ordinary among them.?

Thus wrote the Jesuit Francisco Ignacio Alcina in his book, ?Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas,? published in 1668. Alcina claims that drunkards were to be found not just among the ?white, brown or black? among the inhabitants, but that it also caused many problems, including ?rapes, adultery and violence.?

Alcina and other Spanish writers noted the varieties of alcoholic drinks at the time, many of which still exist today, for example tuba, basi, tapuy. Alak was a generic word for these beverages. What has changed through the centuries is that alcoholic drinks are now mass produced and of more varieties. (Beer, for example, was introduced only during the Spanish colonial period; San Miguel Beer dates back only to the 19th century.)

Other than that production aspect, drinking?s probably pretty much similar then as now. Alcohol was important for social bonding, whether among friends or during fiestas and other social occasions. Alcina noted that women would also drink, but in rooms or quarters separate from the men, and that the women would drink more moderately than the men.

In the animal kingdom, the males of many species constantly preen and display themselves, as exemplified by the pretty male peacock. Among Filipino males, drinking itself is display. An alpha male, whether aspiring for or already achieving the status, has to offer to pay for drinks ? and this can be for occasions as diverse as a birthday party or a wake ? to validate his status. Not only that, during the drinking session itself, he has to display his masculinity by showing he can hold several drinks. Actually, members of the barkada (peer group) constantly compete with each other on the number of drinks they can guzzle, usually with the empty bottles left on the table to show who the champions are.

As the San Miguel ads go, ?Iba ang may pinagsamahan!" (Roughly, fellowship matters.) Drinking is important for reinforcing barkada (peer) relations as well as pakikisama, often defined as being able to get along with others, although this can sometimes deteriorate into blind group conformity especially in the context of drinking. Members of a barkada will egg each other to keep drinking, even if they?re already drunk. The Americans call this binge drinking, where the rule is that as long as you?re conscious, you?re good for another drink. The pressures can be greater on newer and younger members of a barkada, for whom drinking sessions become rituals of passage to prove one?s masculinity.

Why do we go to such extremes? Curiously, it might be because drinking allows us to challenge certain social norms. Our culture can be extremely repressed about what we can say and do, especially in relation to our feelings and emotions. But when a group gets together, many of the socially-inhibiting rules are suspended. Drinking becomes a no-holds barred bull session to air our grievances. Drinking allows us to let our hair down, to be funny and silly and to perform.

While we don?t usually want to admit it, drinking is often permeated with sexual connotations, a chance to flirt ? and here there are so many almost-funny variations. More women, for example, now go out in groups to drink, and while this is often done to bond with one another, it can also be a chance to be much more forward about their ?interests.? Being in a large group, with alcohol as a social lubricant, the Filipina can shed any pretense of Maria Clara demureness.

In a rather interesting twist, sometimes drinking also allows men to venture into the forbidden: expressing interest in other men. In all these cases, for women and men, the drinking is both a venue as well as an excuse, especially the morning after (?Wow, sorry ha, I was quite drunk, wasn?t I??)

So many of our drinking places are actually pickup joints. People can hook up with each other for casual sex, or with sex workers known by a variety of euphemisms, from GROs (guest relations officers) to the waitresses (and waiters) who are ready to join you at the table and order overpriced ?ladies? drinks? or ?macho drinks? which, curiously enough, are non-alcoholic. Even the bars and beer houses, while offering a heady mixture of alcohol and sex, do recognize that alcohol can impair sexual performance, an irony considering that people drink to become sexually bold in the first place.

A wise Alcina noted that drinking wasn?t a problem just in the Philippines, and that what bothered him most was that ?these detestable drinks? had a way of affecting a person?s judgment.

I?m certain that in our own time, many, if not the majority, of vehicular accidents occurring at night involve someone inebriated or guilty of DUI or ?driving under the influence? (of alcohol). If we could just investigate ?sex under the influence,? and its many unintended consequences, we might better appreciate Alcina?s warning more than 300 years ago.