Readings in Philippine History

Prelim
Week 1: Analysing Historical sources
1. List 5 interesting new facts you learned from the videos.
a. OPVL is an important tool in analysing a source
b. OPVL can be adapted to use in any grade.
c. Valuable information can be gleaned from both types of
documents.
d. Limitation is the hardest part in analysing a source.
e. Sources may vary but what is important is that the value.

2. Some primary sources may be judged more reliable than

others, but every source is biased in some way. As a result,
historians read sources skeptically and critically. They
also cross-check sources against other evidence and sources.
Historians follow a few basic rules to help them analyze
primary sources. Read these rules below. Then read the
questions for analyzing primary sources. Use these rules and
questions as you analyze primary source documents yourself.
3. In order to analyze a primary source you need information
about two things: the document itself, and the era from
which it comes. You can base your information about the time
period on the readings you do in class and on lectures. On
your own you need to think about the document itself.
4. Check UP: Page 44
1. A
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. A
6. A
7. A
8. B
9. A
10.B

Week 2:Analyzing Historical Document

Origin The history of the

Philippines between 900 and
1565 begins with the creation
of the Laguna Copperplate
Inscription in 900 and ends
with Spanish colonisation in
1565.
Antonio de Morga Sánchez
Garay (29 November 1559 – 21
 July 1636) was a Spanish
soldier, lawyer and a high-
ranking colonial official for
43 years, in the Philippines
(1594 to 1604), New Spain and
Peru, where he was president
of the Real Audiencia for 20
years. He was also a
historian.
In 1609, he published the
work for which he is now
remembered – Sucesos de las
Islas Filipinas (Events in
the Philippine Isles).

Purpose By publishing his annotated

version of de Morga's Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas
(Events of the Philippine
Islands, originally published
in 1609), Rizal's intent was
not only to provide the
Filipino people their early
history, a pre-Spanish
history, but to present to
them their own authentic
culture and identity.

Value The work greatly impressed

the Philippine national hero
José Rizal and decided to
annotate it and publish a new
edition and began working on
it in London and completing
it in Paris in 1890.
Limitation The book (Sucesos..) narrates
the history of wars,
intrigues, diplomacy and
evangelization of the
Philipinnes in a somewhat
disjointed way. Modern
historians (including Rizal)
have noted that Morga has a
definite bias and would often
distort facts or even rely on
invention to fit his defense
of the Spanish conquest.
 Contemporary Relevance Rizal found the answer to his
idea in Morga’s book and it
was this work that he decided
to reprint with his
annotations. … The Morga
annotations provided the
seeds of the idea of how the
Filipinos should view
themselves amidst a growing
nationalism that eventually
led to the formation of a
nation.

Check Up Quiz:
1. C
2. A
3. D
4. A
5. B

Week 3:Analysing History of the Philippine Province of Islands of

the Society of Jesus by Pedro Chirino.
Origin Pedro Chirino entered the
Society of Jesus in February
1580, and arrived in the
Philippines in June 1590. He
was the first Jesuit
missionary whose travel
expenses were paid with funds
from the royal treasury. He
was the first Jesuit
"missionary" in the strict
sense of the word, for he was
assigned, not to the classroom
—although later, he was named
Rector of the Jesuit college
in Manila—but to the mission
parishes of Balayan
(Batangas), Antipolo and
Taytay, and Tigbauan (Iloilo).
In 1602, he was elected
Procurator for the Philippine
Jesuit Mission. The history,
in five books, covers the
years from 1581 to 1606, the
years between the arrival of
Jesuits in the Philippines and
 their establishment as a
Jesuit Province. The author
records not just the work of
the Jesuits, but other
important events of Philippine
history, e.g., Legazpi's
conquest of the country.

Purpose The title literary means

Events in the Philippine
Islands and thus the books
primary goal is a
documentation of events during
the Spanish colonial period of
the Philippines as observed by
the author himself. The book
also includes Filipino
customs, traditions, manners,
and religion during the
Spanish conquest.
This book has been written for
the young men and young women
of the Philippines. It is
intended to introduce them
into the history of their own
island country. The subject of
Philippine history is much
broader and more splendid than
the size and character of this
little book reveal. Many
subjects have only been
briefly touched upon, and
there are many sources of
information, old histories,
letters and official
documents, which the writer
had not time and opportunity
to study in the preparation of
this work. It is not too soon,
however, to present a history
of the Philippines, even
though imperfectly written, to
the Philippine people
themselves; and if this book
serves to direct young men and
young women to a study of the
history of their own island
 country, it will have
fulfilled its purpose.
Value The early religious worship
included the veneration of the
spirits and the ancestors. The
early Filipinos believed in
the cult of the dead and, in
addition, the cult of the
spirits. They also believed in
the offering of sacrifices to
appease their gods. In the
strictest sense, paganism
refers to the authentic
religions of ancient Greece
and Rome and the surrounding
areas. The pagans usually had
a polytheistic belief in many
gods but only one, which
represents the chief god and
supreme godhead, is chosen to
worship.
Limitation It covers different aspects of
Filipino culture, life and
tradition. It includes
observation based on what is
experience by the author.
Contemporary Relevance Through history, we can learn
how past societies, systems,
ideologies, governments,
cultures and technologies were
built, how they operated, and
how they have changed. The
rich history of the world
helps us to paint a detailed
picture of where we stand
today.

Check Up Quiz:
1. A
2. D
3. D
4. A
5. B

Week 4:Analysing Kartilya of Katipunan

Origin The author, Jim Richardson,
however, has made it easy for
many of us by not only
compiling the documents but
also translating the Tagalog
texts and transcribing them.
The two versions of the
Katipunan’s founding statutes
of 1892 are in the book, and
records of the Supreme
Council. The description of
the initiation rituals are an
intriguing read and so are the
letters of Andres Bonifacio
and Emilio Jacinto. Much as we
have listened to our teachers
speak about the Katipunan, the
book allows us something
deeper —a view of the so-
called primary resources. Now,
we can read Bonifacio’s
“Decalogue” and Jacinto’s
“Kartilya,” transcribed from
difficult Tagalog, freeing us,
too, from deciphering the
codes, as in the case of
documents written in ciphers,
and penmanship common in that
era.
Purpose “The Katipunan was at its core
a modern, forward-looking
organization, rationalist and
secular. It was not the first
association to launch a revolt
against Spanish rule, for
outbreaks of resistance had
begun with the conquest, and
it did not initiate the
discourse on liberalism,
modernity, and Philippine
nationhood, which is
customarily said to have begun
in the 1860s. The originality
of the Katipunan, the
singular, momentous
achievement of the
Katipuneros, lay in connecting
 the anticolonial impulse with
the contemporary discourse,
and in launching a revolution
that was ’nationalist’ in the
full, inclusive, nationwide
sense of the word. The KKK
called upon all the people of
the archipelago to unite, to
fight for freedom, and to
found a new nation.

Value Most of the 73 Katipunan

documents in this volume were
seized by the Guardia Civil in
Manila in 1896–1897 and locked
away for decades in the
Spanish military archives.
Transcribed and published here
for the first time are two
versions of the Katipunan’s
founding statutes of 1892;
more than twenty records of
the Supreme Council;
initiation rituals; draft
contributions to KALAYAAN, the
KKK newspaper; and letters of
Andres Bonifacio and Emilio
Jacinto. Also included here
are a few better known
documents, such as Bonifacio’s
“Decalogue,” Jacinto’s
“Kartilya” the Acta de
Tejeros, and the Naik Military
Agreement. The original
Tagalog texts are in most
cases preceded by brief
introductions and followed by
English translations or
paraphrases. Supplementary
essays discuss the Katipunan’s
leadership and structure in
the city and province of
Manila, and the contested
historiography of the
Katipunan. This volume
provides a wealth of fresh
insights into the character,
 ideals and travails of the
secret society that launched
the struggle for liberty.
Limitation The true character of the
Katipunan, the revolutionary
organization Bonifacio
founded, has been obscured by
what Richardson describes as
“a paucity of sources,” into
which abyss ideologues and
popularizers have willingly
entered. This “crying shortage
of reliable sources,” he
writes in his preface, “has
tempted historians to write
history as they wish it had
been, and has allowed every
species of fallacy to
flourish, from wild conjecture
and fanciful exegesis to
hagiography and myth-making;
from simple error to outright
fabrication.” A work that
succeeds in offering “a
corrective to the worst
excesses,” then, to use
Richardson’s own modest
phrasing, is not only welcome
but necessary to the national
project.

Contemporary Relevance Richardson is modest about his

book’s worth: “The documents
do not spring any huge
surprises, but they do revise
or clarify several points of
detail.” Well, perhaps for the
academic historian. But for
the ordinary Filipino, the
information in this book—
logically organized, carefully
cited, superbly translated (or
paraphrased, as the case may
be) from the original Tagalog—
will be a revelation.
To my mind, “The Light of
Liberty” allows the modern
Filipino reader to begin to
see the Katipunan for what it
truly was.