Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

Guagua Community College

Sta. Filomena, Guagua, Pampanga
COURSE TITLE : READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

PROFESSOR : JEROLD B. ALVARADO, MAEd

Introduction
Lesson 1.1 Meaning and Relevance of History
Lesson 1.2 Distinction of Primary and Secondary Sources

MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF HISTORY:

“What is history? An echo of the past in the future; a reflex from the future on the past.”

– Victor Hugo

Think of the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word history.

Heroes, past events, and historic places are some ideas that you might have. History is an
interesting subject for some, but for a number of students, they may find it boring or irrelevant in
relation to their chosen college degree, or even to their lives! Perhaps, one of the reasons is, not knowing
what history really means and not realizing its relevance to one’s life and to a nation’s destiny as well.

As a discipline, Merriam-Webster (2018) defined history as “a chronological record of significant

events (such as those affecting a nation or institution), often including an explanation of their
causes.” This definition merely pertains to the events that are significant to an organization sequentially
arranged to tell a coherent story of the past.

However, looking into the etymology of the word, ‘history’ was derived from the Greek word
‘historia,’ which means ‘inquiry or knowledge acquired by investigation.’ Hence, the subject is not just
about knowing which event comes first, but it requires readers to examine every information coming
from a source to justify the cause of a certain event and to identify the reasons for the actions of the
personalities involved.

On the other hand, historiography refers to how, what, and why history is written. It is about
the methods and practices used in producing history, the development of history as a discipline, or
the philosophy or significance of historical writing.

Encyclopedia Britannica (2017) shortly defines it as the writing of history based on the critical
examination of sources, the selection of particular details from the authentic materials used in those
sources, and the synthesis of the details into a narrative that stands the test of critical examination. The
term historiography also refers to the theory and history of historical writing.

In short, history is the study of past events and historiography is the study of history.

Prehistory and History

In this study, it is important to distinguish what is prehistory, history, and historiography.

Prehistory refers to that period where information of the past were recorded in materials other than
written documents, which may not be understood by a historian. These include artifacts, drawings,
paintings, sculptures and any other forms. History covers information derived from largely written
records of past experiences.

The prehistory of the Philippines is said to cover the events until 21 April 900 (equivalent in the
Proleptic Gregorian Calendar), the date indicated on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) the earliest
written document known in the Philippines today.

Why Study History?

Peter N. Stearns in 1998 has published an article with the American Historical Association
that enumerated the reasons why we should study history. Here are some of his justifications why the
subject is worth our attention:

1. History helps us understand people and societies. In the first place, history offers a storehouse
of information about how people and societies behave. Understanding the operations of people and
societies is difficult, though a number of disciplines make an attempt. An exclusive reliance on current
data would needlessly handicap our efforts. How can we evaluate war if the nation is at peace -
unless we use historical materials? How can we understand genius, the influence of
technological innovation, or the role that beliefs play in shaping family life, if we do not use what we
know about experiences in the past? Some social scientists attempt to formulate laws or theories
about human behavior. But even these recourses depend on historical information, except for in
limited, often artificial cases in which experiments can be devised to determine how people act. Major
aspects of a society's operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot
be set up as precise experiments. Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our
laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to
figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. This, fundamentally, is why
we cannot stay away from history: it offers the only extensive evidential base for the contemplation and
analysis of how societies function, and people need to have some sense of how societies function simply
to run their own lives.

2. History helps us understand change and how the society we live in came to be. The second
reason history is inescapable as a subject of serious study follows closely on the first. The past
causes the present, and so the future. Any time we try to know why something happened, we have to
look for factors that took shape earlier. Sometimes fairly recent history will suffice to explain a major
development, but often we need to look further back to identify the causes of change. Only through
studying history can we grasp how things change; only through history can we begin to comprehend
the factors that cause change; and only through history can we understand what elements of an
institution or a society persist despite change.

3. History contributes to moral understanding. History also provides a terrain for moral
contemplation. Studying the stories of individuals and situations in the past allows a student of history
to test his or her own moral sense, to hone it against some of the real complexities individuals have
faced in difficult settings. People who have weathered adversity not just in some work of fiction, but in
real, historical circumstances can provide inspiration. "History teaching by example" is one phrase
that describes this use of a study of the past - a study not only of certifiable heroes, the great men
and women of history who successfully worked through moral dilemmas, but also of more ordinary
people who provide lessons in courage, diligence, or constructive protest.

4. History provides identity. History also helps provide identity, and this is unquestionably one of
the reasons all modern nations encourage its teaching in some form. Historical data include evidence
about how families, groups, institutions and whole countries were formed and about how they have
evolved while retaining cohesion. For many [Filipinos], studying the history of one's own family is the
most obvious use of history, for it provides facts about genealogy and (at a slightly more complex
level) a basis for understanding how the family has interacted with larger historical change. Family
identity is established and confirmed. Many institutions, businesses, communities, and social units,
such as ethnic groups in the [Philippines], use history for similar identity purposes. Merely defining the
group in the present pales against the possibility of forming an identity based on a rich past. And of
course nations use identity history as well—and sometimes abuse it. Histories that tell the national
story, emphasizing distinctive features of the national experience, are meant to drive home an
understanding of national values and a commitment to national loyalty.

5. Studying History Is Essential for Good Citizenship. A study of history is essential for good
citizenship. This is the most common justification for the place of history in school curricula.
Sometimes advocates of citizenship history hope merely to promote national identity and loyalty
through a history spiced by vivid stories and lessons in individual success and morality. But the
importance of history for citizenship goes beyond this narrow goal and can even challenge it at some
points.

History that lays the foundation for genuine citizenship returns, in one sense, to the essential uses
of the study of the past. History provides data about the emergence of national institutions,
problems, and values—it's the only significant storehouse of such data available. It offers evidence
also about how nations have interacted with other societies, providing international and comparative
perspectives essential for responsible citizenship. Further, studying history helps us understand
how recent, current, and prospective changes that affect the lives of citizens are emerging or may
emerge and what causes are involved. More important, studying history encourages habits of mind
that are vital for responsible public behavior, whether as a national or community leader, an informed
voter, a petitioner, or a simple observer.

Moreover, Stern has identified a number of skills that a student may develop in studying history.
These include the following:

1. The ability to assess evidence. The study of history builds experience in dealing with and assessing
various kinds of evidence—the sorts of evidence historians use in shaping the most accurate pictures
of the past that they can. Learning how to interpret the statements of past political leaders—one kind of
evidence—helps form the capacity to distinguish between the objective and the self-serving among
statements made by present-day political leaders. Learning how to combine different kinds of evidence
- public statements, private records, numerical data, visual materials - develops the ability to make
coherent arguments based on a variety of data. This skill can also be applied to information
encountered in everyday life.

2. The ability to assess conflicting interpretations. Learning history means gaining some skill
in sorting through diverse, often conflicting interpretations. Understanding how societies work - the
central goal of historical study—is inherently imprecise, and the same certainly holds true for
understanding what is going on in the present day. Learning how to identify and evaluate
conflicting interpretations is an essential citizenship skill for which history, as an often-contested
laboratory of human experience, provides training. This is one area in which the full benefits of
historical study sometimes clash with the narrower uses of the past to construct identity. Experience
in examining past situations provides a constructively critical sense that can be applied to partisan
claims about the glories of national or group identity. The study of history in no sense undermines
loyalty or commitment, but it does teach the need for assessing arguments, and it provides
opportunities to engage in debate and achieve perspective.

3. Experience in assessing past examples of change. Experience in assessing past examples of

change is vital to understanding change in society today - it is an essential skill in what we are regularly
told is our "ever-changing world." Analysis of change means developing some capacity for determining
the magnitude and significance of change, for some changes are more fundamental than others.
Comparing particular changes to relevant examples from the past helps students of history develop this
capacity. The ability to identify the continuities that always accompany even the most dramatic changes
also comes from studying history, as does the skill to determine probable causes of change. Learning
history helps one figure out, for example, if one main factor - such as a technological innovation or
some deliberate new policy - accounts for a change or whether, as is more commonly the case, a
number of factors combine to generate the actual change that occurs.

Clearly, the reasons and skills that one may develop in studying history is not only beneficial for
students in schools but to everyone to be equipped with the right knowledge and reasons for our
every actions and decisions to become good and responsible citizens.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES:

In the study of history, historians give interpretations of the past by investigating historical
sources. No interpretations, however, shall be accepted unless it is supported by evidence from the
examined sources. Historical sources may refer to everything, written or not, that may tell something
about the past. These sources are generally classified into primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources are original records of a certain event by people who have actually
experienced or witnessed it. These may include original works such as letters, legislations,
newspaper articles, diaries, interviews, government documents, reports, photographs, literature and
other creative outputs.

Secondary sources, on the other hand, are records based on primary sources. They explain
a certain event of the past through evaluation and interpretation of the records created during a
historical period. These may include researches, textbooks, journals, commentaries, biographies, and
criticism or reviews of literary and creative works.

To illustrate, if students wish to study the 1987 Constitution, the primary sources includes the
Record of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, proclamations, speeches of the 48 representatives who
collectively drafted the current Constitution, and the text of the Constitution itself. Its secondary sources,
on the hand, may include textbooks, annotations, and published opinions about the Constitution.

Primary and secondary sources are both important in studying history. However, it is preferred
that students use primary sources in their analysis and synthesis of the past events. The use of
primary sources is important because of the following reasons:

1. Direct contact with the original records and artifacts invites students to explore the content with
active and deeper analysis, and to respond thoughtfully;

2. Critical thinking is developed as students probe the context, purpose, meaning, bias, and
perspectives in their analysis of the past;

3. In the interaction with the various sources from the past, alearn-led inquiry is being fostered;

4. There is a realization that history is a reflection of various perspectives of those who interpret the
past events; and

5. It brings back to story to history allowing students to share the author’s perspectives.
ACTIVITY 1.1A: Draw your Insights

NAME:
John Raniel Soriano SCORE:

YEAR/SECTION: DATE:
BSAIS 1B 09-17-2021
Draw the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word “history”.

ACTIVITY .1B: Essay

NAME:
John Raniel Soriano SCORE:

YEAR/SECTION: DATE:
BSAIS 1B 09-17-2021
Write a short essay on the relevance of studying history in relation to your course

- Studying history is important, through history, we can learn how

Past societies, system ideologies, government, culture and
Technologies were built how they operated, and how they have
Change..,, all this knowledge makes them more rounded people
Who are better prepared to learn in all their academic subjects.
ACTIVITY 1.2A: Directions: Identify whether the statement is a PRIMARY or SECONDARY
source. Write your answer before each number.

NAME:
John Raniel Soriano SCORE:

YEAR/SECTION: DATE:
BSAIS 1B 09-17-2021
Secondary 1. You were watching news and the reporter said that she had heard bad reviews about a
new action film. When she talks about the movie, what is she?

Primary 2. You found a letter to one of your classmates in the room after school yesterday.
What is the letter?

Primary 3. You and your brother found an old wedding dress in your archives. Your mother told
you that it belonged to your grandmother. What is the dress?

Secondary 4. At school you use textbooks to learn about the history of the Philippines.
When you use textbooks, what are you using?

Primary 5. You like to magazines. You love the articles written by other about airplanes and
aviation. When you read these stories, what are you?

Secondary 6. You father has audio files of your grandfathernarrating his memorable
experience as a pilot. What are you listening to?

Secondary 7. When you are working on your assignment about thePhilippine government, you
have
read about the commentaries of the Justices in the Supreme Court on landmark cases. What are you
reading?
Primary 8. Your friend told you that she will be reading a book that she really liked.
When she talks about the book, what is she?
Secondary 9.Whenyouwereatsummercamplast year, you found an interesting porcelain jar; You
researched and found out thatit has been made by the precolonial Chinese traders. What is the jar?
Primary 10. You are writing a paper on President Rodrigo RoaDuterte for your History class.
You used articles from an online encyclopedia and Wikipedia. What are you using?

ACTIVITY .2B: Directions: Name a historical event you wish to study; and Identify the primary and
secondary sources of that historical event.

NAME:
John Raniel Soriano SCORE:

YEAR/SECTION: DATE:
BSAIS 1B 09-17-2021
HISTORICAL EVENT: Leyte Landing memorial Park

PRIMARY SOURCES:
On October 20, 1944, Early afternoon general Douglas
1._______________________________________________________________________
macarthur is found which commmorates his historic return
________________________________________________________________________________________
the island of leyte.
2._______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

SECONDARY SOURCES:
Based on one resident of Candahug Palo Leyte where
1._______________________________________________________________________
macarthur memorial park located that i found in Google
________________________________________________________________________________________

they said the official story of October 20, 1944 was of

macarthur waiting and watching aboard the Uss Nashville.
2._______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES:

Louis Gottschalk,

Understanding History,

(pp. 41-61; 117-170).

Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable Sources,(pp. 17-68)

Santiago Alvarez, Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General, (pp. 82-88).

Teodoro Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People, (pp.184-187).

Robert Fox, The Tabon Caves, (pp. 40-44; 109- 119). [Human remains andartifacts]

William Henry Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History (pp. 90-135).