READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Discovering the lenses of Philippine History

Edited & Compiled By:

SAIDEN P. AKMAD, LPT

SAILAN P. AKMAD, LPT
 Introduction

This course critically analyses Philippine history from multiple perspectives through the lens of selected
primary sources. We prioritise primary sources that describe Philippine history's critical turning points
from the Western colonizers' discovery until the Philippines' contemporary period and different
comprehensive perspectives. The approach that lines up to the historical narratives shapes
interdisciplinary subjects to broaden and deepen the student's understanding of Philippine political,
economic, social and cultural history and equip the learner with the competencies necessary to analyse
and evaluate different types of information: print, visual and audio-visual, and quantitative. The end
goal is to develop the students' historical and critical consciousness so that they will become versatile,
broad-minded, morally upright and responsible citizens. Understanding various context and concept of
historical narrative in the perspective of different historical sources builds a strong fold of foundation
of the annals of Philippine historiography.

Through this course module, it hopes that after all the lessons the student will embody the sense of
understanding thru digging the lenses of history as they will be able to Describe, analyse, and
appreciate the rich history of the Filipino people, from Magellan’s expedition and discovering the
existence of the Philippines to the various affairs concerning political, social, and economic timeline of
the country, through the lens of selected primary sources; Critically examine, from varied perspective,
primary sources that will enable them to understanding deeper the social, political, economic,
religious, and other significant problems now faced by the Filipino people; Analyse and comprehend
the context, content, and perspective of selected primary sources to determine their meaning,
significance and relevance in terms of the sources’ contribution to our understanding of Philippine
history; Effectively communicate and articulate, using various techniques and genres, their historical
analysis of a particular event or issue that could help other people understand and manage present
day issues and concerns; and Recommend possible solutions to present day problems based on their
own understanding of their root causes, and their anticipation of and assessment of alternative
scenarios for the future.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 1

 CHAPTER 1
Sultan Kudarat State University VMGO Orientation

LESSON 1.1: SKSU VMGO and Course

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  State the Vision and Mission of SKSU

 Memorize the VMGO

UNIVERSITY VISION

A trailblazer in arts, science and technology in the region.

UNIVERSITY MISSION

The University shall primarily provide advance instruction and professional training in science and
technology, agriculture, fisheries, education and other related field of study. It shall undertake
research and extension services, and provide progressive leadership in its area of specialization.

UNIVERSITY GOAL
To produce graduates with excellence and dignity in arts, science and technology.
UNIVERSITY OBJECTIVES

a. Enhance competency development, commitment, professionalism, unity and true spirit of

service for public accountability, transparency and delivery of quality services;
b. Provide relevant programs and professional trainings that will respond to the development
needs of the region;
c. Strengthen local and international collaborations and partnerships for borderless programs;
d. Develop a research culture among faculty and students;
e. Develop and promote environmentally-sound and market-driven knowledge and technologies
at par with international standards;
f. Promote research-based information and technologies for sustainable development;
g. Enhance resource generation and mobilization to sustain financial viability of the university.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 2

 CHAPTER 2
Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources, and
Methodology

In this module, we will look into several lessons that discuss the foundation of History, how historians
interpret History, and the various historical sources. The lessons that we are going to examine are
History and its definition that seeks to help the students to understand the core purpose of History,
questions and issues in History, the History and the Historian; the connection and responsibility of a
historian in crafting historical narratives, and Historical Sources and shreds of evidence that will be
beneficial for students, as in the chapter the students will analyse the historical data using historical
sources. These lessons will help the students shape their knowledge about History—an avenue where
we can understand History as a discipline and as a narrative.

LESSON 2.1: History and the subject

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Define the meaning of history

  Identify the core purpose of history
 Discuss the significance of history as a source of information

Introduction
History deals with the study of past events. There is a general agreement that History is the written
record of the past, particularly the human past. However, History has inner meaning as it is a historian
subjective view and interpretation of events, both global and local, based on his country’s experience.

Ibn Khaldun, the great Arab thinker of the 14th century, left us a legacy of knowledge, particularly in
History. He distinguished between two meanings of History, one factual, the other speculative. History
is no more than information about political event an ever wider space in the world, dynasties, and the
remote past occurrences, elegantly presented and spaced with proverbs. It serves to entertain large,
crowded gatherings and brings us an understanding of human affairs. The inner meaning of History, on
the other hand, involves speculation and attempt to get the truth, subtle explanation of the causes and
origins of existing things, and knowledge of the how and why of events. To Ibn Khaldun, man is an
essential ingredient of History on which everything in the world depends.

Ambeth Ocampo (2013) believes that History has two components a Kasaysayan-salaysay and saysay.
These two components are inseparable; without both, you cannot have true History. Kasaysayan brings

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 3

more about the meaning of History compared to western world history as it is just a mere narrative of
past events while kasaysayan is not just a narrative or salaysay; it must have saysay or meaning. If we
find meaning in History, then it will gain the power to change our lives. Saysay gives us a way of looking
at the world, a Filipino viewpoint that influences how we see the past, the present, and hopefully, the
future.

Characteristic of History
Collingwood has suggested four broad characteristic of the discipline:

 That it is scientific, or begin by knowing something and tells what it knows.


 That is humanistic, or asks questions about things done by men at determinate times in the
 past.
 That it is rational, or bases the answers it gives on grounds, namely appeal to evidence.

 That it is self-revelatory, or exists in order to tell man what man is by telling what man has
done.

Significance of History
Studying history is really important especially in the Philippine setting. These are the reasons why we
need to study:

1. We could determine and understand the contribution of our ancestor in the foundation of our
humanity, origin, and inherent culture. History gives picture to our humanity and to our society.
2. We could understand the task in the present and future if we study the history. The events in
the past has relation to our present and future. It gives meaning in different things and events in
our society.
3. History can be used to examine and forecast the things in the environment and society. We’ve
learned to appreciate culture, love, and respect other people in the world.
4. History can give us deeper understanding of different problems and offer solutions in our
present and future. In the study of the past events, we discover new ways in studying in solving
problems in the present and future.
5. History is an eye opener to understand our culture, language and society. History may arouse
patriotic, humanitarian nature in people
6. History develops our knowledge about different race of people, culture, place, and time.
7. The stories of past about people and things in the world we live provide valuable lessons to us.
8. In studying history we’ve learned different ways of studying and researching in the social
sciences. It helps us to learn different ways of discovering new knowledge.

Studying History
Once upon a time, the history or story of a society or group of people is rooted in myth, epic, folklore,
and rituals. It has been transferred from generation to generation. Over a hundred years ago, history's
study was based on different data's like documents, coins, seal, picture, and sculptures and carved
statue.

In early times, recording history is essential to the rulers of government to justify their works. During
that time, the laws and agreement became an important basis. Lately, the origin of data's is not only
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 4
through written documents but also through the things that have to do with people's lives. These
things are their materials, corpse, settlement, plants, picture, computer text files and environment.
Because of numerous data sources, it is difficult for the historian to scrutinize and correctly choose
which are valid. It is the reason why they need to clarify appropriately.

In studying history, we need to document, examine the framework correctly, and consider the relation
of documents and events due to multifaceted past events. The important data's should be connected
and understandable to become more relevant and realistic from its interpretation. The study of history
as a discipline or science has its advancement during 1900. During those years, scientists forcedly
separated the good data's from the documents from its interpretation.

Today, Scientist believes that it is impossible to do because the description of the historian's past
events comes from his/her understanding and imagination that is scrutinized and connected to the
different data's collected. The experts who studied the different social sciences branches greatly help
prove that the data are genuine. It enlightens and guides us to examine, give meaning and
interpretation from the collected data's.

Written Not Written

Laws Corpse
History Data
Treaty Materials
Biography Settlement
Documents Environment
News Customs

Learning Activity

True or False. Write SAIDEN if the statement is true. Otherwise, write FALSE in the space provided.
_____________1. History is the study of the past.
_____________2. Kasaysayan brings more about the meaning of History compared to western
world history
_____________3. In studying history, we need to document, examine the framework correctly,
and consider the relation of documents and events due to multifaceted past
events.
_____________4. History is limited to the story of a hero versus a vllain.
_____________5. Historical sources that were not written should not be used in writing history.

References:

 Agoncillo, Teodoro A.; 2010; Philippine History; South Triangle, Quezon City; C & E Publishing.

 Ocampo, Ambeth R.; 2013; Meaning and History: The Rizal Lectures; Pines cor. Union Streets,
Mandaluyong City; Anvil Publishing, Inc.

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
Readings.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 5

 LESSON 2.2: Questions and Issues in History

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Determine the complexity of historical narratives and history

  Elaborate different issues of historical narratives
 Identify the questions on history

Introduction
Studying history, there will always be questions on its importance that turned to be more complex in
asserting its significance. Various questions have raised as such: What is History? Why study history?
And for whom do we need to study history? This course of knowledge reflects the narrative of our
society, it tells a significant event that narrates the past. All these questions can be answered by
historiography.

The practice of historical writing is called historiography. Traditional method in doing historical
research focuses on gathering of documents from different libraries and archives to form a pool of
evidence needed in making a descriptive or analytical narrative. However, modern historical writing
does not only include examination of documents but also the use of research methods from related
areas study such as archaeology and geography. Historiography’s object of study is history, it ask
questions on how was a certain historical text written, who wrote it, or the context of its publication,
the source used in the history, or method that was employed. With the help of historiography students
will have a better understanding about history. There are different issues on writing historical
narratives. If we are to observe different sources and history books it is always written by victors.

Colonial Histories in Historical Narratives

Another weakness of most national histories is the importance given to colonial histories. This
continues to breed Filipinos who are more familiar with stories about our colonial history rather than
stories of our precolonial past. Up to now, some social studies textbooks misrepresent ancient Filipinos
as savages or barbarians by portraying colonizers, especially the Spaniards and American, as liberators
of the Filipinos from cultural backwardness. The key to uncover such cultural prejudices is to examine
available historical sources and to write about our past by understanding the myths and
misconceptions that characterized the Filipino culture for centuries.

Elite-centric Perspective in Historical Narratives

Some historical narratives focus on the contributions of the elite in nation-building such as what the
Illustrados (educated Filipinos) fought for in the 19th century or how the local politicians negotiated
with their American counterparts to obtain an independence law during the first half of the 20th
century. Though eminent historians such as Constantino and Ileto reiterated the importance of a

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 6

“people’s history” and “history from below,” respectively, so much has to be done in terms of writing
about the roles played by ordinary people in our history.
Patriarchal Orientation in Historical Narratives

Most of the country’s historical narratives highlight the heroism of men in different ways: leading
revolts and liberation wars against colonizers, championing the cause of independence, and
spearheading political and economic development. Women, on the other hand, are viewed by several
historians as merely support to men. Let us take for example the women leaders such as Gabriela
Silang, Tandang Sora, and Corazon Aquino. Silang assumed the leadership of the Ilocos revolt after her
husband was murdered in May 1763. Tandang Sora’s decision to offer her barn and farm to
revolutionaries in August 1896 was linked to her son’s involvement in the Katipunan. Aquino rose to
prominence as a martyr’s widow who led a movement to depose a dictatorship in February 1986.
These representations show women’s roles as consequences of their connection to the men in their
lives. With this bias in mind, it is imperative for contemporary historians to use gender-sensitive
approaches in understanding history to avoid typecasting women as dependent, emotional, less
important, passive, submissive, and weak.

Emphasis on Lowland Christianized Filipinos

National histories tend to show partially toward lowland Christianized Filipinos at the expense of other
cultural communities such as Muslim Filipinos and other indigenous peoples such as the Manobos of
Mindanao, Ibalois of Cordillera, and Mangyans of Mindoro. Celebrated figures of our past are all
lowlander Christians and predominantly Tagalogs including Jose Rizal, the leading propagandist; Andres
Bonifacio, the Katipunan founder; Emilio Aguinaldo, the revolutionary leader who declared
independence; and Manuel Quezon, the first president of the Philippine Commonwealth. Non-
Christians and highlanders remain unrecognized in historical narratives. Muslim Filipinos, in particular,
have been subjected to negative characterization by lowland Christians in published works such as
history books. This is caused by the culture of mistrust that developed between Christians and Muslims
during the colonial periods. Muslim Filipinos are depicted as brutal, cruel, ferocious, and vicious as
exemplified by their attacks of Christian towns. This narrow-minded view has to be re-evaluated in
order to correct misrepresentations of Muslim Filipinos in this age of political correctness and cultural
sensitivity.

Because of the need to reassess our national histories, many local stories- narratives about origins and
development of a barangay, town, city, province, or an ethno linguistic community – have been written
in the last three decades. The writing of these stories broadens the scope of our national history
reflective of the roles played by the country’s cultural communities in nation – building.

Learning Activity

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 7

 1. Search for historical writing. through examining the content, identify its historical narratives.
Support your answer by discussing your conclusion.
Reference:

1. Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

LESSON 2.3: The History and the Historian

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Examine the influence of historian to history

  Evaluate relevance of historian in historical narrative
  Identify historian and qualities of a historian in writing historical narratives
 Familiarize some known Filipino historiographer

Introduction
History deals with the study of past events. Individuals who write about history are called historians.
They seek to understand the present by examining what went before. They undertake arduous
historical research to come up with a meaningful and organized reconstruction of the past. But whose
past are we talking about? This is a basic question that a historian needs to answer because this sets
the purpose and framework of a historical account. Hence, a salient feature of historical writing is the
facility to give meaning and impart value to a particular group of people about their past. Historian
only get to access representation of the past through historical sources and evidences. Therefore,
historian needs to seek historical evidences to properly interpret facts and historical information.

Qualities of a Historian

The writing of history requires numerous and greatly varied knowledge. It also requires a good
speculative mind and thoroughness. Possession of these two qualities leads the historian to the truth
and keeps him from slips and errors. If he trust historical information in its plain transmitted form and
has no clear knowledge of the principles resulting from customs, the fundamental facts of politics, the
nature of civilization, and if, furthermore, he does not evaluate remote or ancient material through
comparison with near or contemporary material, he often cannot avoid stumbling and slipping and
deviating from the high road of truth.

The practice of historical writing is called historiography. Traditional

method in doing historical research focuses on gathering of
documents from different libraries and archives to form a pool of
evidence needed in making a descriptive or analytical narrative.
However, modern historical writing does not only include

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 8

examination of documents but also the use of research methods from related areas study such as
archaeology and geography.
Philippine historiographer

Teodoro Agoncillo a pioneered nationalist historiography in the country positioned historiography in the
Philippines in 1950 through highlighting the role of the Filipino reformists and revolutionaries from 1872,
the year that saw the execution of the GomBurZa priests, to the end of the Philippine Revolution as the
focal point of the country’s nation-building narrative. He has two well-known books that focused on the
impact of the Philippine Revolution: The Revolt of the Masses: The story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan
(1956) and Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic (1960). He change the course of his writings from
emphasizing Spanish colonial period and regarded events before 1872TeodoroaspartAgoncilloofthe country’s
“lost history.” However, a known scholar, Renato Constantino criticized
the discourse of “lost history” by Teodoro Agoncillo. He then published
a work entitled “The Miseducation of the Filipino” that became a staple
reading for academics and activists beginning in the late 1960s.

Constantino advanced the idea of a “people’s history” – a study of the

past that sought to analyse society by searching out people’s voices
from colonial historical materials that typically rendered Filipinos as
decadent, inept and vile. He defined history as “recorded struggle of
people for ever increasing freedom and for newer and higher realization of the
Renato Constantino
human person”. Following this mode of historical
inquiry, he authored The Philippines: A Past Revisited (1975), a college textbook that offered a more
critical reading of Philippine history compared to Agoncillo’s History of the Filipino People (1973).
Undoubtedly, these two nationalist scholars inspired or challenged other historians to re-evaluate the
country’s national history.

Three other Filipino historians set new directions in redefining

Philippine historiography in the last 30 years of the 20th century.
The first of these scholars is Zeus Salazar who conceptualized
“Pantayong Pananaw” as an approach to understanding the past
from our own cultural frame and language. He emphasized the
value of our Austronesian roots to defining Filipino culture and
encouraged other scholars to conduct outstanding historical
researches in Filipino such as the work of Jaime Veneracion’s
Kasaysayan ng Bulacan (1986).
Zeus Salazar
Equally important is the contribution of Reynaldo Ileto who wrote
about his “history from below” treatise in his ground-breaking work,
Pasyon and Revolution: Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910
(1979). In this work, Ileto endeavored to recognize the way of thinking of
ordinary folks by using alternative historical sources such as folk songs
and prayers. His other works spurred new interpretations of common

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 9

topics such as Jose Rizal, Philippine-American War, and American colonization.

There is Samuel Tan, another prolific historian who is remembered for

mainstreaming the role and relevance of Filipino Muslims in the country’s
national history. His definitive work, The Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle,
1900-1972 (1978), sougth to examine the struggle of Filipino Muslims in
Reynaldo Ileto

the context of 20th –century nation-building dynamics during the American

colonial regime and subsequent postcolonial Filipino administrations.

In his book, A History of the Philippines (1987), Tan tempted to write a

national history reflective of the historical experiences not only of lowland
Samuel Tan Christianized Filipinos but also of the other different cultural communities
in the archipelago. Since the latter part of the 20th century, there have been considerable changes in
the way historians compose our national history. However, contemporary Philippine historiography
still continues to be characterized by the dominance of political narratives, colonial histories, elite-
centric perspective, and patriarchal orientation as well as emphasis on lowland Christianized Filipinos.

Learning Activity

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. What do you think is the sole purpose of Historian in seeking the truth of past and writing
Philippine history?
2. There are historians that have conflicting narrative on history; some may not agree to the
work of other historian. What do you think are the reasons why conflicting narratives among
historians exist? And why is it necessary in unfolding the truthful narrative of history?
References:

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of

Readings.

 Torrentira, Moises C.; 2020; Readings in Philippine History; University of Southern Philippines,
Davao City.
Supplementary Reading materials:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/teodoro-a-
agoncillo/&ved=2ahUKEwjM_MbsiPvuAhXN62EKHfegDaUQFjAJegQIBxAC&usg=AOvVaw06E8zFnOtUmKABPVKA
28Uq&cshid=1613913672714

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt8zt322fw/qt8zt3
22fw_noSplash_3c858c9adea247ba7e1f780f9e311412.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjM_MbsiPvuAhXN62EKHfegDaUQFjA
NegQICxAC&usg=AOvVaw31OYHE9ylp5izQuO3LktLW&cshid=1613913672714

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 10

 LESSON 2.4: Historical Sources and Evidences

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Identify the primary and secondary sources

  Differentiate external and internal criticism
 Assess the value of historical evidences and sources

Introduction
Historical writing requires sources. History deals with facts and to achieve historical narrative,
evidences are necessary. There are diverse sources of history that historian use which is
supplementary to their narrative, it includes documentary sources or documents, archaeological
records, and oral and video accounts.

Archaeological records are also a great historical source, it is a preserved remains of human beings,
their activities, and the environment where they lived. There are archaeological records in the
Philippines that were discovered by scientist, the most significant excavated human remains were
Callao Man’s toe bone and the Tabon Man’s Skullcap.

There are also fossils and artefacts. Fossils are the remains of animals, plants, and other organisms
from the past, the latter is a remnants of material culture which was developed by human beings. The
third kind of historical source are the oral and video accounts. These are audio-visual documentation
of people, events, and places. These are usually recorded in video and audio cassettes, and compact
discs. Aside from scholars, media people also use oral and video accounts as part of their news and
public affairs work.

Category of Historical Sources

The most important research tools of a historian are historical sources. In general, historical sources
can be classified between primary and secondary sources. The classification of sources between these
two categories depends on the historical subject being studied.

Primary Sources

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 11

It is basically refer to documents, physical objects, and
oral/video accounts made by an individual or a group
present at the time and place being described. These
materials provide facts from people who actually
witnessed the event. Therefore:

 Primary sources are usually defined as first-hand

information or data that is generated by
witnesses or participants in past events.

 Those sources produced at same time as the
event, period, or subject being studied. These
materials are often located in the Special
Collections of a library, rather than in the general
collection.

 Are characterized not by their format but rather
by the information they convey and their
relationship to the research question. They
include letters, diaries, journals, newspapers,
photographs, and other immediate accounts. The
interpretation and evaluation of these sources
becomes the basis for research.

Examples:

1. If a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution Convention of 1935, his primary
resources can include the minutes of the convention, newspaper clipping, Philippine
Commission reports of the U.S Commissioners, records of the convention, the draft of the
constitution, and even photographs of the events.
2. The same goes with other subjects of historical study. Archival documents, artefacts,
memorabilia, letters, census, and government record, among others are the most common
examples of primary resources.

Secondary Sources
Materials made by people long after the events being described had taken place. Therefore:

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 12

  Those sources, which were produced by an author who used primary sources to produce the
material. In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which studied a certain
historical subject.
Example:

 The subject of Philippine Revolution of 1896, students can read Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of
Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan published originally in 1956.
Historical Methods/Criticism

Like other disciplines, history also uses the scientific method. The historical method consists in analysis
of the sources and in the synthesis of the material. Here, historian needs to thoroughly scrutinize the
historical sources to avoid deception and to come up with the historical truth. Students of history
needs to employ meticulous readings to ascertain the authenticity and reliability of the primary
sources to craft accurate historical narratives. Historical criticism consist of two aspects – external and
internal.

A. External Criticism

It answers the questions What, Where, When, and by whom such sources were produced. Are the
sources in the original form or are they but copies of the original? Are the sources primary or
secondary? How authentic and reliable are they? Some of them may be forgeries perhaps?
B. Internal Criticism

It deals with the credibility and reliability of the content of a given historical source. This kind of
criticism focuses on understanding the substance and message that the historical materials wants to
convey by examining how the author frame the intent and meaning of a composed material. It involves

the meaning and interpretations of the source materials

Learning Activity:

A. True or False. Write SAIDEN if the statement if true. Otherwise, write FALSE in the space
provided.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 13
 __________1. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.
__________2. External criticism is done by looking at a source’s quality of paper and
type of ink, among others.
__________3. Internal criticism is done by examining the physical characteristics of a
source.
__________4. Photograph of the actual event is classified as primary source.
__________5. The story of an eyewitness of the 1974 massacre in Palimbang is an example
of secondary source.

B. ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. Without visual evidences of the past how would you write history?

C. IDENTIFICATION. Read the following scenarios and classify the sources discovered as Primary,
Secondary, or Tertiary sources. Write your answer in the space provided.

1. Ampuan was exploring the library of her school in Palimbang. He wanted to study the 1974
Martial law happened in Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat. In the library, she saw an old photograph
of dead men which pertains to massacre in Malisbong.

What kind of source is the photograph? ________________________________________

2. Mr. Akmad visited the library of MSU, Gensan City looking for books as a references in his
subject Readings in Philippine History. He saw the book of Teodoro A. Agoncillo, Philippine
History. In this book he observed that the author used Chronicles of Pigafetta.

What kind of source is the book? _____________________________________________

References:

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of

Readings.

 Torrentira, Moises C.; 2020; Readings in Philippine History; University of Southern Philippines,
 Davao City.
 Agoncillo, Teodoro A.; 2010; Philippine History; South Triangle, Quezon City; C & E Publishing,
Inc.

Supplementary Reading Materials:

https://www.researchgate.net/application.TemporarilyBlocked.html
https://www.slideshare.net/myboyfriend10/external-and-internal-criticisms
http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/mrcte/intextcr.htm

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 14

 CHAPTER 3

Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary

Sources in the Philippine History

In this Chapter, we are going to look into at a number of primary sources from different
historical periods and evaluate these documents content in terms of historical value, and examine the
context of their production. The primary sources that we are going to examine are Antonio Pigafetta’s
“First Voyage around the World”, Emilio Jacinto’s “Kartilya ng Katipunan”, the 1898 Declaration of
Philippine Independence, Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American Era (1900-1941),
and Corazon Aquino’s Speech before the US Congress. These primary sources range from chronicles,
official documents, speeches and cartoons to visual arts. These types of sources requires different
kinds of analysis and contain different levels of importance.

LESSON 3.1: A Brief summary of the “First Voyage around the World of
Magellan Expedition” by Antonio Pigafetta

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Analyse the content, context, and perspective of the document

  Discuss Magellan’s expedition and experience
 Explain the importance of the Pigafetta’s account on the study of Philippine history

Introduction

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 15

The Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan led the first voyage around the world, beginning in
1519. Sailing southward along the coast of South America, Magellan discovered the strait that today
bears his name became the first European to enter the Pacific Ocean from the east. Magellan died
while exploring the Philippines, but his ships continued west to complete the circumnavigation of the
globe. The following account of the difficult passage through the Strait of Magellan was written by a
member of the crew, Antonio Pigafetta.

On September 8, 1522, the crew of the Victoria cast anchor in the waters off of Seville, Spain, having
just completed the first circumnavigation of the world. On board was Antonio Pigafetta, a young Italian
nobleman who had joined the expedition three years before, and served as an assistant to Ferdinand
Magellan en route to the Moluccas Islands. Magellan was dead. The rest of the fleet was gone: the
Santiago shipwrecked, the San Antonio overtaken, the Concepcion burned and the Trinidad
abandoned. Of the 237 sailors who departed from Seville, eighteen returned on the Victoria. Pigafetta
had managed to survive, along with his journal—notes that detailed the discovery of the western route
to the Moluccas. And along the way, new land, new peoples: on the far side of the Pacific, the fleet had
stumbled across the Marianas archipelago, and some three hundred leagues further west, the
Philippines.

Pigafetta’s journal became the basis for his 1525 travelogue,

The First Voyage Around the World. According to scholar
Theodore Cachey Jr., the travelogue represented “the literary
epitome of its genre” and achieved an international
reputation. One of Pigafetta’s patrons, Francesco Chiericati,
called the journal “a divine thing” and Shakespeare himself
seems to have been inspired by work: Setebos, a deity invoked
in Pigafetta’s text by men of Patagonia, makes an appearance
in The Tempest.

First Voyage, Cachey points out, is intent on marvelling at

what it encounters—and therein lies much of its appeal. It is a
work that is intent on wonder. On astonishment. In travel
writing, one often must recreate the first moment of newness,
that fresh sense of awe, on the page for the reader; Pigafetta
does it again and again, by revelling in odd and odder bits of
detail. We watch Pigafetta wonder at trees in Borneo whose
leaves appear to walk around once shed, leaves that "have no blood, but if one touches them they run
away. I kept one of them for nine days in a box. When I opened the box, that leaf went round and round
it. I believe those leaves live on nothing but air.” We marvel, in the Philippines, at sea snails capable of
felling whales, by feeding on their hearts once ingested. On a stop in Brazil, we see an infinite number
of parrots, monkeys that look like lions, and "swine that have their navels on their backs, and large
birds with beaks like spoons and no tongues".

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 16

And yet, the very newness that can give travel writing so
much of its power creates problems of its own. For the
travel writer there is, on the one hand, the authority of his
or her observational eye, and on the other, the call for
humility in confronting the unknown. Pigafetta,
encountering a new people, tries to earn his authority
through a barrage of detail. He attempts to reconstruct
their world for us--what they look like, where they live,
what they eat, what they say--he gives us pages and pages
of words, from Patagonia, from Cebu, from Tidore. But
there is little humility, and one can hardly expect there to
be so, not early in sixteenth century, a few decades after the Pope had divided the unchartered world
between Spain and Portugal, and certainly not on this expedition, where Magellan and his partners
have been promised, in a contract agreement with the Spanish monarchy, the titles of Lieutenants and
Governors over the lands they discover, for themselves and their heirs, in perpetuity. And cash sums.
And 1/20th of the profits from those lands.

In First Voyage is great gulf between what Pigafetta sees and what Pigafetta knows. I grew up, in the
Marianas, hearing about this gulf. It is part of why travel writing can be so fraught for me now. On
reaching the Marianas after nearly four months at sea with no new provisions, “The captain-general
wished to stop at the large island and get some fresh food, but he was unable to do so because the
inhabitants of that island entered the ships and stole whatever they could lay their hands on, in such a
manner that we could not defend ourselves.". The sailors did not understand that this was custom, that
for the islanders, property was com

munal and visitors were expected to share what they had.

So in that first moment of contact, Magellan and his starving crew retaliated. They went ashore and
burned, by Pigafetta's account, forty to fifty houses. They killed seven men. Mutual astonishment at the
new and the wondrous took a dark turn: “When we wounded any of those people with our crossbow
shafts, which passed completely through their loins from one side to the other, they, looking at it, pulled
on the shaft now on this and now on that side, and then drew it out, with great astonishment, and so
died; others who were wounded in the breast did the same, which moved us to great compassion. We
saw some women in their boats who were
crying out and tearing their hair, for love, I
believe, of their dead.” Magellan named the
archipelago Islas de los Ladrones, the Islands of
Thieves. The name would stick for the next three
hundred years, long after the islands were
absorbed into the Spanish empire. The name,
the bold, condemnatory stroke of it, has long
been anchored to my past, to those old history
lessons. There is no feeling in it but rage. So I

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 17

was surprised to see, in Pigafetta's text, the sailors moved to compassion. They seem to understand, in
that moment of astonishment, that the islanders are defenceless against the unknown.

From the Marianas, the fleet moved on to the Philippines. They linger there, exploring the land,
exchanging gifts with the chiefs, observing the people. And I know what's coming for the people; I know
that we're seeing, through Pigafetta, the hush of a world just before it changes, wholly and entirely.
And there is Pigafetta, marvelling, at the coconuts and the bananas and the naked, beautiful people.
It's happening even now in the text, as the Filipino pilots are captured to direct the way to the
Moluccas, the way to the spices. There is Pigafetta, roaming and cataloguing and recording, caught up
in the first flush of a new world, and as I read I can start to hear my father describing his country,
wondering at it, my father traveling as a young man up and down Luzon, across the sea to the Visayas,
across the sea to Mindanao. I can hear the ardour and the sadness and the terror and the delight. I can
hear the wonder. I can feel the pulse to move.

I suppose this is what great travel writing gives us: a way to wholly enter a moment, a feeling, and a
body. A way to be changed. I can be my father, marvelling at his country, our country, transformed by
its vast expanse. I can be Pigafetta, on the deck of the Trinidad, moved to write from shock and wonder.
And I can be the woman on a boat in the Marianas, crying out of love for the dead

Chronology of the Voyage

28 March 1518: Charles V issues a capitulación stipulating a fleet of five ships and some 250 officers
and men for the expedition.
5 May 1519: A royal decree orders that 235 men should depart [Pigafetta says that 237 men were on
board]. The lists published by Navarette come to 239 men: 62 on the Trinidad, 57 on the San Antonio,
45 on the Victoria, 44 on the Concepción and 31 on the Santiago.
8 May 1519: A royal cédula is issued including seventy-four paragraphs of minute instructions for the
voyage.
May 1519: Antonio Pigafetta arrives in Seville in time to join the expedition and participate in final
preparations.
10 August 1519: The fleet departs Seville, anchoring at Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the outport of Seville,
for more than a month, in order to add to the provisions.
24 August 1519: Magellan makes his last will and testament.
20 September 1519: The fleet weighs anchor from Sanlúcar and shapes its course south-west. Three
years pass before the Victoria returns.
26 September 1519: The fleet reaches Tenerife in the Canaries.
3 October 1519: The fleet departs Tenerife and follows a south-west course down to latitude 27° N,
then changing to south by west.
18 October 1519: The fleet experiences a series of storms off Sierra Leone.
29 November 1519: The fleet reaches Cabo Santo Agostinho at latitude 8° 21´ S, now Cabo Branco, to
the north of Recife.
13 December 1519: The fleet reaches Rio de Janeiro at latitude 22° 54´ S.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 18

20 December 1519: Trial, conviction, and execution of Antonio Salamone, master of the Victoria, who
had been caught in the act of sodomy with an apprentice seaman off the coast of Guinea.
26 December 1519: The fleet departs Rio de Janeiro.
11–12 January 1520: The fleet reaches the Rio de la Plata, which Magellan calls Rio de Solis after the
explorer killed by natives there in 1516.
2 February 1520: The fleet departs its anchorage near Montevideo.
13 February 1520: The fleet experiences storms off Bahia Blanca.
27 February 1520: The fleet anchors off a broad bay; they call it Bahia de los Patos for the immense
number of penguins.
31 March 1520: The fleet enters Puerto San Julián (in 49° 30´ S), where it remains for five months, until
24 August. Here the encounters with the Patagonian giants and the mutiny take place.
1 April 1520: During the night between 1–2 April, Juan de Cartagena attempts to kill the master of the
San Antonio, Juan de Elorriaga, and put in chains Alvaro de Mesquita. Gaspar de Quesada and Juan
Sebastián Del Cano take possession of the Concepción and Luis de Mendoza of the Victoria. Magellan
suppresses the mutiny. A court martial is held and forty men are found guilty and condemned to death,
including Gaspar de Quesada.
3 May 1520: The Santiago is lost while searching for the strait.
24 August 1520: The voyage is resumed.
14 September 1520: The four remaining ships of the fleet reach Rio Santa Cruz at latitude 50° S, where
they remain until 18 October.
21 October 1520: The fleet reaches Cabo Vírgenes on the feast of St Ursula and the Eleven Thousand
Virgins at latitude 52° 20´ S, longitude 68° 21´ W.
1 November 1520: Magellan discovers and names the strait Todos los Santos in honour of All Saints’
Day.
November 1520: Estevão Gomez succeeds in the one successful mutiny of the voyage and together
with the pilot Hierónimo Guerra takes command of the S. Antonio and returns to Spain, arriving 6 May
1521.
28 November 1520: The fleet, consisting of Trinidad, Concepción, and Victoria pass Cabo Pilar (which
Magellan names Deseado) on Desolation Island, and enters the Pacific Ocean: ‘Wednesday, 28
November 1520, we debouched from that Strait, engulfing ourselves in thePacific Sea’.
1 December 1520: After steering north along the coast of present-day Chile, the fleet sights Cabo Tres
Montes in latitude 47° S.
24 January 1521: The fleet sights the uninhabited Islas Infortunatas identified by most authorities as
Puka Puka in the Tuamoto archipelago in 14° 50´ S.
4 February 1521: The fleet sights the Isla de los Tiberones, probably Caroline in 10° 00´ S.
13 February 1521: The fleet reaches the equator.
6 March 1521: The fleet sights the Islas de Ladrones or Las Islas de Velas Latinas, identified as Guam
and Rota of the Marianas.
9 March 1521: The fleet departs from the Marianas on a course west by south.
16 March 1521: The fleet sights the mountains of Samar in the Philippines and anchors at the island of
Suluan at latitude 11° N: ‘At dawn on Saturday, 16 March 1521, we came upon a high land at a distance
of three hundred leagues from the islands of thieves’.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 19
18 March 1521: Europeans make their first contact with Filipinos on Homonhon Island.
25 March 1521: Pigafetta falls overboard and is nearly drowned: ‘I was aided not, I believe, indeed,
through my merits, but through the mercy of that font of charity *the Virgin+’.
28 March 1521: The fleet anchors off Limasawa (Pigafetta’s Mazaua) at the southern entrance to
Suriago Strait; Magellan and his men are well received there by the natives and good relations are
established with Rajah Colambu.
31 March 1521: Magellan has Easter mass celebrated on Limasawa Island.
6 April 1521: The fleet departs Limasawa.
7 April 1521: The fleet enters the port of Cebu, where, following negotiations, merchandise is
exchanged for provisions, and good relations are established.
14 April 1521: The Sultan Humabon is baptized (and renamed Don Carlos) by the flagship’s chaplain
with all pomp and circumstance. Rajah Colambu is also baptized and named Don Juan after the Infante.
Magellan cures a sick elder, which leads to the burning of native idols.
27 April 1521: Magellan and sixty of his men in three longboats attack Rajah Lapu Lapu and his forces
on Mactan. They are driven back to the ships and Magellan is killed.
1 May 1521: Massacre of Europeans in the island of Cebu, including Duarte Barbosa and twenty-five
shipmates. At this time, the Concepción is abandoned. Only about 110 men still survive. João Carvalho
was elected captain-general.
21 June 1521: Victoria and Trinidad depart Palawan. They arrived at Brunei on the north-eastern coast
of Borneo on 9 July.
29 July 1521: The Europeans attack a group of junks off Brunei, capturing four and killing several
others.
15 August 1521: Victoria and Trinidad call at Cimbonbon (Banguey) on the south side of Balabac Strait,
where they remain forty-two days repairing the ships and gathering provisions.
September 1521: Carvalho is degraded to his former rank of flag pilot; Gómez de Espinosa is elected
captain-general and captain of the Trinidad; Juan Sebastián de Elcano is elected captain of Victoria.
27 September 1521: The voyage is resumed and a junk carrying the governor of Palawan is sacked and
the governor held for ransom.
26 October 1521: The two ships experience storms in the Celebes Sea.
6 November 1521: Victoria and Trinidad arrive at the Moluccas: ‘Therefore we thanked God and as an
expression of our joy discharged all our artillery’.
8 November 1521: Trinidad and Victoria enter the harbour of Tidore, most important of the five
principal Moluccas, which include Ternate, Motir, Makian, and Batjan: ‘so that they spent from Seville
to Maluco two years, two months and twenty-eight days, for they sailed on the tenth of August of
1519’ (Genoese pilot).
9 November 1521: The Europeans are received at Tidore by the Sultan Manzor, who declares that he
and all his people wish to become vassals of the emperor Charles V.
18 December 1521: The Victoria and the Trinidad lift anchor to depart but the Trinidad springs a leak.
21 December 1521: Victoria, under the command of Elcano, sets sail for a nine-month-long return
voyage via the Cape of Good Hope, with forty-seven of the original crew and thirteen natives on board
(eighteen Christian and three Indonesians survive). Gómez de Espinosa stays behind with fifty-three

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 20

men to repair the Trinidad before attempting to return across the Pacific to New Spain, where the
cargo is to be carried across the Isthmus of Panama and shipped to Spain.
6 April 1522: Trinidad sets sail from Tidore and struggles as far as latitude 43° N, before it is decided to
return to Tidore. The ship and crew are eventually captured by the Portuguese captain António de
Brito. Only four of the Trinidad’s crew eventually return to the Iberian Peninsula. Espinosa spends four
and a half years in captivity in the east before returning to Spain.
10 January 1522: Victoria reaches Alor (Pigafetta’s Malua) in 8° 20´ S latitude.
25 January 1522: Victoria departs Alor and arrives the next day at the island of Timor, along which the
ship coasts for three weeks while trading for provisions.
10–11 February 1522: Victoria sails from Timor into the Indian Ocean, called Laut Chidol.
6 May 1522: Victoria doubles the Cape of Good Hope, according to Pigafetta. In fact, according to Albo,
the sailors are convinced they doubled the Cape 8 May, but then realize that they are in error. The
fleet double the Cape 16 May and entered the Atlantic 22 May.
8 June 1522: Victoria crosses the equator for the fourth time since leaving Spain.
9 July 1522: Victoria anchores in the port of Ribeira Grande on the Cape Verde island of Santiago.
Between Timor and Cape Verde fifteen Europeans and ten Indonesians have died aboard the Victoria.
15 July 1522: Victoria departs hastily from the Cape Verde islands. Thirteen members of the crew are
detained by the Portuguese authorities.
28 July 1522: Tenerife of the Canary Islands is sighted.
7 August 1522: The volcanic island of Pico in the Azores was sighted.
21 August 1522: Victoria heads for Cape St Vincent and arrives there 4 September.
6 September 1522: Victoria enters the harbour of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and anchors off a quay at
Seville on 8 September. Only eighteen Christians and three Indonesians survive.

This was taken from the chronicles of contemporary voyagers and navigators of the sixteenth century.
One of them was Italian nobleman Antonio Pigafetta, who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his
fateful circumnavigation of the world. Pigafetta’s work instantly became a classic that prominent
literary men in the west like William Shakespeare, interpretation of the new world.

Learning Activity:

Essay. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. What do you think is the importance of Pigafetta’s chronicles as a primary document in
Philippine history?
2. If Pigafetta was not able to survive the expedition, is there something to write about pre-
colonial history of the Philippines?
References:

  Pigafetta, Antonio. The First Voyage Around the World, 1519-1522: An Account of Magellan’s
Expedition. Ed. Theodore J. Cachey, Jr. Toronto: University of Toronto Press

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 21

  Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh St.,
 Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.
 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
Readings.
Supplementary Reading Material
https://www.essaydaily.org/2013/11/antonio-pigafettas-first-voyage-around

LESSON 3.2: The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Examine the context and perspective of the documents

  Determine the main teachings and guiding principles of Kartilya
 Recognize the importance of the documents to the past and today’s society

Introduction
The abject failure of the Filipino reformist, most of whom were expatriates, to bring about the desired
changes in the social, political, and economic patterns in the Philippines led a segment of the people to
believe that peaceful propaganda was useless. This influence Bonifacio and some of his friends to
repudiate the Liga and the peaceful method of propaganda creating a movement that has three
cardinal objectives: Political: to seek separation from Spain if the latter continued to resist the clamour
for the expulsion of the friars; Civic: to help and defend the poor and the oppressed, and Moral: to
teach good manners, hygiene, and democratic morality: and to fight religious fanaticism, weakness of
character, and the policy of character, and the policy of obscurantism.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 22
The KKK

Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangan Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan is ostensibly the
most imperative association that shaped Philippine history. While hostile to frontier developments,
endeavours, and associations had just been built up hundreds of years preceding the establishment of
the Katipunan, it was just this association that imagined the accompanying;

1. A united Filipino nation that would revolt against the Spaniards for the total independence of
the country from Spain.
2. Previous armed revolts had already occurred before foundation of the Katipunan, but none of
them envisioned a unified Filipino nation revolting against colonizers.

Katipunan created a complex structure and a defined value system that would guide the organization
as a collection aspiring for single goal. One of the most important Katipunan documents was the
Kartilya ng Katipunan. The original title of the document was “Manga Aral Nang Katipunan.” The
document was written by Emilio Jacinto in the 1896. Jacinto was only 18 years old when he joined the
movement. He was a law student at the Universidad de Santo Tomas. Despite his youth, Bonifacio
recognized the value and intellect of Jacinto that upon seeing that Jacinto’s Kartilya was much better
than the Decalogue he wrote, he willingly favoured that the Kartilya be distributed to their fellow
Katipuneros. Jacinto became the secretary of the organization
and took charge of the short-lived printing press of the
Katipunan.

Bonifacio then formed an underground secret society through

the use of secret codes and passwords called the Katipunan in
1892. The Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng
mga Anak ng Bayan (Supreme and Venerable Society of the
Children of the Nation) provided the rallying point for the
people’s agitation for freedom, independence and equality.

The Katipunan patterned its initiation rites after the Freemasonry, which Bonifacio was a Freemason.
The organization had its own structure, law system and system of government. Symbols, crypto logic
languages, clandestine rituals marked the Katipunan’s operations. From the society’s inception,
Bonifacio was one of the Chief Officers and in 1895, he became the Presidente Supremo. The
Katipunan rapidly developed in fame and by 1896 had in excess of 30,000 individuals. It was on this
same year that the Spanish provincial experts found the presence of the mystery society and were
thinking about strides to destroy it. Bonifacio then again together with his different individuals were
arranging how best to rebel against the Spanish.

On August 23, 1896, Bonifacio and his kindred Katipuneros tore their cedulas (living arrangement
authentication) which was set apart as the noteworthy "Cry of Balintawak" which really happened in
Pugadlawin. Along these lines, it is additionally called "Sigaw ng Pugadlawin". This denoted the start of
the Philippine unrest. Be that as it may, the Katipuneros endured a noteworthy annihilation when they
met the capability of the Spaniards. They understood they gravely required weapons and ammo.
Clearly the underlying clashes of the Katipunan were strategic botches.

The Katipunan Organizational Structure

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 23

Like Masonry, from which the Katipunan borrowed its
ceremonial rites, the Society divided its members in grades.

The first grade, known as the Katipon (member), wore a black

hood in all meetings. The hood had a triangle of white
ribbons, inside of which were the letters Z, LI, B., the
Katipunan characters corresponding to the Roman A ng B,
meaning Anak ng Bayan (Son of the People) the password of
the Katipon.
The second grade, called Kawal (soldier) wore a green hood
with a triangle composed of white lines. At the three angles were the letters Z, LI, B. that is Z in one
angle. LI in another and B in the third. Suspended from the neck of a Kawal was a green ribbon with a
medal at the end, the letter K in the ancient Tagalog syllabary appearing in the middle of the medal.
The password was Gom-Bur-Za, taken from the names of the martyred priests Gomez, Burgos, and
Zamora.

The third grade, called Bayani (patriot), wore a red mask and
sash with green borders, symbolizing courage and hope. The
front mask had white borders that formed a triangle with the
three K’s arrange as if occupying the angles of a triangle
within the first triangle. At the letter’s base the letter Z, LI, B.,
were placed in a horizontal row. The password was Rizal.

For the Katipon to

graduate into Kawal,
he must have brought
into the society several
new members. The Kawal became a Bayani upon becoming an
officer of the Katipunan. In order for he members to recognize
each other in the street, the society adopted countersigns;
when a member met another member , he placed the palm of
his hand on his breast, and as they passed each other he closed
his hand, bringing the index finger and the thumb together.

MGA ARAL NG KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN (The Katipunan Code of Conduct)

 The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and reasonable purpose is a tree without a shade, if
not a poisonous weed.
 To do good for personal gain and not for its own sake is not virtue.

 It is rational to be charitable and love one's fellow creature, and to adjust one's conduct, acts
 and words to what is in itself reasonable
 Whether our skin be black or white, we are all born equal: superiority in knowledge, wealth and
beauty are to be understood, but not superiority by nature.
  The honourable man prefers honour to personal gain; the scoundrel, gain to honour.
 To the honourable man, his word is sacred.
 Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 24

  Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in the field.
 The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.

 On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman (“parents”) and the children, and if the
 guide leads to the precipice, those whom he guides will also go there.
 Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a faithful companion who will
share with thee the penalties of life; her (physical) weakness will increase thy interest in her
 and she will remind thee of the mother who bore thee and reared thee.
 What thou does not desire done unto thy wife, children, brothers and sisters, that do not unto
 the wife, children, brothers and sisters of thy neighbour.
 Man is not worth more because he is a king, because his nose is aquiline, and his color white,
not because he is a priest, a servant of God, nor because of the high prerogative that he enjoys
upon earth, but he is worth most who is a man of proven and real value, who does good, keeps
his words, is worthy and honest; he who does not oppress nor consent to being oppressed, he
who loves and cherishes his fatherland, though he be born in the wilderness and know no
tongue but his own.

 When these rules of conduct shall be known to all, the longed-for sun of Liberty shall rise
brilliant over this most unhappy portion of the globe and its rays shall diffuse everlasting joy
among the confederated brethren of the same rays, the lives of those who have gone before,
the fatigues and the well-paid sufferings will remain. If he who desires to enter (the Katipunan)
has informed himself of all this and believes he will be able to perform what will be his duties,
he may fill out the application for admission.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 25

Although unpublished during Bonifacio’s lifetime, this Decalogue is today well known, printed in
schoolbooks and inscribed on monuments. The format in which Bonifacio sets out the duties of KKK
members obviously derives from the Old Testament, and in content the injunctions echo the
“Programa Masonica” and “Codigo Masonico” of the Gran Oriente Espanol. The “Codigo” for instance,
similarly opens with the direction to exalt the Creator, and similarly extols charity and love for one’s
fellows. It, too, enjoins lodge members to be calm, to be guided by reason, and to support one
another, “even at the cost of one’s life.” It, too, says members who break their obligations will be duly
punished.

The crucial difference between the, masonic credo and Bonifacio’s Decalogue is one of ultimate
purpose. The mission of masonry, according to the Gran Oriente’s “Programa”, is exclusively
humanitarian: it strives to “foster charity and philanthropy among free men of good standing” and to
establish a “fraternity among mankind.” The mission of the Katipunan, the Decalogue makes clear, is to
liberate the country from enslavement.

Learning Activity:

Essay. Discuss your answer briefly

1. How this Kartilya ng Katipunan shape the lives of the katipuneros?
2. Examine the vision and mission of the Philippine National Police and Philippine Army, and
create a comparative essay re: the Decalogue of the vision and mission of the Philippine
National Police and Philippine Army with Decalogue of the Katipunan.
References:

 Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh St.,
Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
Readings.

 Torrentira, Moises C.; 2020; Readings in Philippine History; University of Southern Philippines,
Davao City.

Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.
Supplementary Reading Material
http://philippinefolklifemuseum.org/collection/andres-bonifacio/

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 26

 LESSON 3.3: Proclamation of Philippine Independence
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Explain the Content and Context of the Proclamation of the Philippine Independence document
  Identify the main cause of proclaiming independence against colonizer
 Discuss the political motivations behind the proclamation

Introduction
The Philippine Declaration of independence was proclaimed on June 12, 1898 in Cavite II el Viejo
(present-day Kawit, Cavite), Philippines. With the public reading of the Act of the Declaration of
independence (Spanish: Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipino), Filipino
revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of
the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain. However, the government of the republic on a
determined thought a losing struggle against the superior armed forces of the United States in an
effort to defend and preserve the independence of the Philippines. Hence, on July 4, 1946 at the
Luneta, Philippines declared the full independence of the Republic of the Philippines from American
sovereignty.

The Philippine Independence

The Philippine Revolution passed through two distinct stages. The first embraced the events and
developments that took place from the outbreak of the katipunan revolt in the latter part of August,
1896, to the cessation of hostilities following the conclusion of the Pact of Biak-na-bato on December
14, 1897. It was in this stage that Jose Rizal was executed (December 30, 1896) for alleged complicity in
the revolutionary movement. It was also in this stage that the Katipunan organization gave way to a
new revolutionary government with a new group of leaders, to lead and direct the revolution against
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 27
the Spanish government in the Philippines. The new government was set up in Cavite in March, 1897,
with Emilio Aguinaldo as president.

The second stage lasted from the resumption of the war against Spain shortly after the return of
Aguinaldo from Hong Kong on May 19, 1898, to the outbreak of hostilities between Filipino and
American forces early in February, 1899. This stage of the Revolution witnessed events of far reaching
significance in the political history of the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, Dewey’s naval force destroyed
the Spanish navy in battle in Manila Bay, thereby dealing a mortal blow on Spanish colonial power in
the Philippine. Three months later, August 13, 1898, Manila fell into the hands of the American forces.
On December 10, 1898, Spain ceded by treaty the Philippines to the United States. In this stage, too,
the Filipino people had their first experience of political independence and had occasion to show their
capacity, as a free and independent nation, to manage their national affair.

A significant and memorable event of this stage of the Revolution was the coming into being on
September 15, 1898, of the Malolos Congress. The Congress was the third of the representative
assemblies which in the course of the Revolution, arose to assume a vital role in the affairs of the
Revolution. The first of these was the assembly of Katipunan leaders which met at Tejeros, San
Francisco de Malabon, Cavite, on March 22, 1897. The Tejeros Convention, as that meeting is
commonly called, set up a new revolutionary government, with Emilio Aguinaldo as president, to direct
and carry on the armed struggle for the independence of the Philippines. The second came into being
on November 1, 1897, at Biak-na-bato. The assembly was composed of leaders of the revolution who
were in Biak-na-bato at that time. Its avowed purpose was to modify the constitutional basis of the
revolutionary government which had been established by the Tejeros Convention. Its main
accomplishment was the adoption of a new constitution, historically known as the constitution of Biak-
na-bato. It was under this constitution that the revolutionary government under Aguinaldo negotiated
and concluded the pact of Biak-na-bato. A series of events preceded the establishment of the Malolos
Congress. On May 24, 1898, a few days after his arrival from Hong Kong, Aguinaldo Set up provisional
government in Cavite to direct and carry on the renewed struggle against the Spanish government in
the Philippines. The government was dictatorial in form. However, it was not intended to continue
indefinitely. It was to last only, in the words of Aguinaldo's proclamation, “until the time when these
Islands, being under our complete control, may form a constitutional republican assembly and appoint
a president and cabinet, into whose hands I shall then resign the command of these islands”.

The Proclamation on June 12

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 28

Independence was declared on June 12, 1898 around four and five in the evening in Cavite at the
ancestral home of General Emilio Aguinaldo. The Act of the Declaration of Independence was
organized, written, and read by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista in Spanish. The Declaration was signed by
ninety-eight people, among them an American

army officer who witnessed the proclamation.

The statement introduced with a portrayals of the conditions in the Philippines amid the Spanish
frontier time frame. The report particularly said misuse and disparities in the province. The affirmation
says:

“…taking into consideration, that their inhabitants being already weary of bearing the ominous yoke of
Spanish domination, on account of the arbitrary arrests and harsh treatment practiced by the Civil
Guard to the extent of causing death with the connivance and even with the express orders of their
commanders, who sometimes went to the extreme of ordering the shooting of prisoners under the
pretext that they were attempting to escape, in violation of the provisions of the Regulations of their
Corps, which abuses were unpunished and on account of the unjust deportations, especially those
decreed by General Blanco, of eminent personages and of high social position, at the instigation of the
of the Archbishop and friars interested in keeping them out of the way for their own selfish and
avaricious purpose, deportations which are quickly brought about by a method of procedure more
execrable than that of the Inquisition and which every civilized nation rejects on account of a decision
being rendered without a hearing of the personal accused .”

The above passage demonstrates the justifications behind the revolution against Spain. The statement
of the autonomy likewise summons that the built up republic would be driven under the oppression of
Emilio Aguinaldo. The primary specify was at the absolute starting point of the statement. It stated:

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 29

“In the town of Cavite Viejo, in this province of Cavite, on the twelfth day of June eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, before me, Don Ambrosio Rainzares Bautista, Auditor of war and Special Commissioner
appointed to proclaim and solemnize this act by the Dictatorial Government of these Philippine Islands,
for the purpose and by virtue of the circular addressed by the Eminent Dictator of the same Don Emilio
Aguinaldo y Famy.”

The same was reused toward the last piece of the declaration. It stated:

“We acknowledge, approve and confirm together with the orders that have been issued therefrom, the
Dictatorship established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo, whom we honor as the Supreme Chief of this Nation,
which this day commences to have a life of its own, in the belief that he is the instrument selected by
God, in spite of his humble origin, to effect the redemption of this unfortunate people, as foretold by
Doctor Jose Rizal in the magnificent verses which he composed when he was preparing to be shot,
liberating them from the yoke of Spanish domination in punishment of the impunity with which their
Government allowed the commission of abuses by its subordinates.”

There are some other details in the proclamation that is worth looking at its explanation on the
Philippine flag that was first waved on the same day. The document explained:

“And finally, it was unanimously resolved that this Nation, independent from this day, must use the flag
used herefore, whose design and colors and described in the accompanying drawing, with design
representing in natural colors the three arms referred to. The white triangle represents the distinctive
emblem of the famous Katipunan Society, which by means of its compact of blood urged on the masses
of the people to insurrection; the three stars represent the three principal Islands of this Archipelago,
Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Panay, in which this is insurrectionary movement broke out; the sun
represents gigantic strides that have been made by the sons of this land on the road of progress and
civilization, its eight rays symbolizing the eight provinces of Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva
Ecija, Bataan, Laguna and Batangas, which were declared in a state of war almost as soon as the first
insurrectionary movement was initiated; and the colors blue, red and white, commemorate those of the
flag of the United States of North America, in manifestation of our profound gratitude towards that
great nation for the disinterested protection she is extending to us and will continue to extend to us.”

It was on that occasion that the flag of the Republic of the Philippines was solemnly raised for the first
time which was made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Herboza to
the tune of the national anthem (Marcha Filipina Magdalo) formed by Julian Felipe and played by the
San Francisco de Malabon marching band which, likewise, was played for the first time.

In the course of the Revolution, Spanish rule in the Philippines came to an end. At the peace
conference held in Paris in the latter part of l898, Spain agreed to relinquish her powers of sovereignty
over the Philippines in favor of the United States. Such relinquishment was formalized in the Treaty of
Paris which was signed on December 10, 1898. The conclusion of the Treaty of Paris marked the
termination of the over three hundred-year period of Spanish rule in the Philippines.

Philippine Independence under American Rule

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 30

The defeat of the Filipinos at the hands of the armed forces of the United States meant the
postponement to an indefinite and uncertain future of the realization of the independence aspirations
of the Filipino people. The great majority of the people, however, chose to accept peace, trusting in
the benevolence and sense of justice of the American people. After taking the oath of allegiance to the
sovereignty of the United States, they lent their support and cooperation in the establishment of civil
government in the towns and provinces of the Philippine. They took active part in those governments
and helped in the maintenance of law and order and in the work of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The primary object of American policy in the Philippines was to be the well-being of the Filipino people.
The widest possible opportunity was to be given to the Filipinos to manage their own local affairs.
Americans were made to understand that the government which they were to establish in the
Philippines was "designed not for their satisfaction nor for the expression of their theoretical views'
but for the happiness and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands”.

The Filipinos did not lose sight of, nor abandon, their independence ideal. They took advantage of the
guarantees of individual freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of association that the new
sovereignty gave them to continue through peaceful means and lawful methods of the campaign for
independence. Under the able leadership of new men, Sergio 0smena and Manuel L. Quezon, the
independence campaign was carried on with vigor and determination. Difficulties, discouragements
reverses, were encountered on the way. The campaign was, just the same, pushed through to a
successful conclusion.

In 1907, the year that the Philippines was given the privilege of setting up a national assembly, which
was to share with the Philippine Commission powers of legislation. This concession gave to the Filipino
people a large measure of authority and responsibility in the administration of their own affairs.

In 1916, with the enactment by the Congress of the United States of the Jones Law. The passage of
that law represented the culmination of the independence campaign waged in the United States by
Manuel L. Quezon during his incumbency as Philippine Resident Commissioner in the Congress of the
United States. The Jones Act defined, in the preamble to the act, the ultimate goal and purpose of
American policy in the Philippines. The preamble stated that:

“it was never the intention of the people of the United States in the incipiency of the war with Spain to
make it a war of conquest or for territorial aggrandizement” ; that "it is, as it was always been, the
purpose of the people of the United States to withdraw their sovereignty over the Philippine Islands and
to recognize their independence as soon as a stable government can be established therein”; and that
“for the speedy accomplishment of such purpose, it is desirable to place in the hands of the people of
the Philippines as large a control of their domestic affairs as can be given without in the meantime
impairing the exercise of the rights of the sovereignty by the people of the United States, in order that
by the use and exercise of popular franchise and governmental powers, they maybe the better prepared
to fully assume the responsibilities and enjoy all the privileges of complete independence”.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 31

In 1934, with the enactment of the Tydings-McDuffie Law, Philippine independence became attainable
within a foreseeable future. The· law provided for a ten-year period of preparation for independence
under a commonwealth government. The act also provided for the calling of a constitutional assembly
to draft a constitution. On November 15, 1935, the Commonwealth government was formally
established. On that date Manuel L. Quezon was inducted into office as President of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines. President Manuel L. Quezon in his inaugural speech, spoke as

follow:

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 32

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 33
The final stage of the independence campaign was reached on July 4, 1946. On that day, in pursuance
of the provisions of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, the Philippines attained its status as a full-fledged
independent state. At an impressive ceremony held that day at the Luneta, President Truman's
proclamation was read announcing the withdrawal of American sovereignty over the Philippines and
the recognition by the United States of Philippine independence. The proclamation read in part as
follow:

Signalizing the conclusion of that historic event was the simultaneous hauling down of the flag of the
United States and the raising of the flag of the Republic of the Philippines. With the inauguration of the
Philippine Republic on July 4, 1946, a new era began for the Filipino people.

Learning Activity:

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. What is the importance of this document in the history of our country?

2. Pursuant to Republic Act No. 4166, whereas it changed the date of Philippine independence
from July 4th to June 12th, and July 4th as Philippine Republic day. What were the reasons of
the government behind changing the date of our independence?

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 34

References:

 Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh St.,
Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
Readings.

 Torrentira, Moises C.; 2020; Readings in Philippine History; University of Southern Philippines,
 Davao City.
 Nicola, Zafra; 1956; Readings in Philippine History; University of the Philippines, Quezon City

 Ocampo, Ambeth R.; 2016; INDEPENDENCE X6; 125 Pioneer Street, Mandaluyong City; Anvil
 Publishing, Inc.
 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.
Supplementary Reading Materials:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/this-day-in-history/philippine-independence-
declared
http://filipino.biz.ph/history/declaration.html

LESSON 3.4: Political Caricatures during the American Period

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Discuss the meaning of the Selected Philippine Political Caricature

 Explain the importance of the caricature in the situation of the past society

Introduction
The four decades of American colonial rule were a formative period in Philippine history. Under a U.S
colonialism that was simultaneously brutal and beneficent, grasping and generous, the Philippines
moved forward from an authoritarian Spanish regime to autonomy and independence. In the process,
Filipinos shaped many of the institutions and cultural characteristics which are still central to life in the
modern republic. Under U.Ss colonial tutelage, the Philippines experienced a process of
Americanization and modernization that has left a lasting legacy. This lesson contains graphic images
that tells a story of American scandals, struggles, and social changes of American colonial period. These
cartoons were a mirror of their society’s colonial condition, an act of protest, and a weapon in the
struggle for social reform.

Political Caricature in Alfred McCoy’s Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the Caricature of the
American Era (1900-1941)
Political Caricature/ Cartoon

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 35

  Modern art form that turned away from classical art by exaggerating human features and
 prodding fun at its subjects.
 It is also known as Editorial Cartoon that contain a commentary that express the artist opinion
 toward certain issues.
 This art became part of the print media as a form of political and social commentary that
usually pin point the person’s power and authority. It is a unique way to present ideas and
capture the audience or readers’ imagination.

In Alfred McCoy’s book Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American Era (1900- 1941), with
the help of Alfredo Roces, they complied some political cartoons that is published in newspaper dailies
and periodical in the aforementioned time period. McCoy’s and Roces Book show the transition from
the Spanish Colonial period to the American Occupation period, it also demonstrated the different
strands of changes and shift in Philippine culture. Society, and politics. In this part, we are going to look
at selected cartoon or caricature and discuss its content.

Memories of the Visit: In this cartoon, the American

sailors poured into Manila off the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in
November 1908, crowding into bars and brothels, a
stream of shoeshine boys and calesa drivers
following in their wake. The cartoonist here shows
one shoeshine boy asking another: “what did we
profit from the 100,000 pesos which sailors visiting
here are supposed to have spent?” the other answer:
“Nothing. They left us the dirt from their shoes.”

The cartoon’s satire operates on at least three levels:

(1) the criticism of the sailors’ spending expresses a
growing Filipino objection to the disagreeable economic and social consequences of the American
military presence, (2) reacting to Filipino complaints about the many disreputable among the
American veterans who had remained in the provinces, usually living off a Filipina wife engaging in
drunken brawls, (3) a subtle criticism of American colonialism, depicting the U.S. rule like the
sailors’ visit, would the Filipinos not end their decades of submission with little more than dirt from
American “shoes”?

Municipal Hygiene: This cartoon shows public

angered the Manilenos. It shows public reaction to the
noxious odors from the excrement pail wagon that
serviced outside toilets, the chemical spraying of
streets and houses to prevent disease was even more
distasteful. Although, this measure is necessary if we
are to compare, the Spaniards had given Manila
neither sewers nor secure water supply so night soil
collection was an imperative disease control measure.
During the cholera epidemic of 1902-1904, for
example, 4,386 Manila resident died.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 36
 Dr. T.H. Pardo De Tavera, a member of the executive Philippine Commission, was a leading critic of
U.S. sanitation procedures. Opposing Interior Secretary Dean C. Worcester’s plans for the
appointment of District Sanitary Inspectors in 1905, Pardo De Tavera wrote to secretary of War
W.H. Taft: “If in Manila, the government has not been able to protect residents from truly
outrageous abuse of authority on the part of agents of the Board of Health,…the new organization
…will bring about greater abuses in the provinces than those we suffer in Manila.”

The Doctor is Busy: the doctor refuses to

see a dying patient. In the midst of tying
the talons on his fighting cock, the doctor is
approached by a peasant who pleads: “my
wife is dying, senior, save her, senior!” to
this plea the fat doctor, in hat with religious
scapulary about his neck, replies: “be quiet.
You are bothering me. Don’t you see that I
am busy?”

Aside from its commentary on the Filipino

passion for gambling, the cartoon satirizes
the haughty, unsympathetic manner of Filipino doctors who, if this is any sample, felt that their
medical degrees were license to command respect, not to render service.

In this caricature, it shows serious discrimination to Filipino teachers in both wages and positions.
During the American colonization to Philippines Bureau of Education was the colony’s largest public
employer, most Filipinos were hired as school teachers. Even though, their qualification were equal
or better than those of the old American teachers, the Filipinos confronted an institutional racism
which gave them lower wages, larger classrooms and fewer privileges. There are also some
inequalities and differences in Filipino and American manual wages within the colony, it involves
differences in wages and working conditions between the two countries. While a stevedore on San
Francisco docks earned 10 pesos for easy mechanized labor, the Filipino earned 1 peso only for
hauling sacks by hands under Manila’s tropical sun.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 37

 The transition from the Spanish colonial period to the American occupation period demonstrated
different strands of changes and shift in culture, society, and politics. The Americans drastically
introduced democracy to the nascent nation and the consequences were far from ideal. The
selected cartoons illustrate not just the opinion of certain media outfits about the Philippine
society during the American period but also painting a broad image of society and politics.

Learning Activity:

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. Interpret at least three (3) images above: (Your narrative it should relate to the
American occupation in the Philippines)
2. Craft your own caricature that depicts an image of situation of Philippine political system
and government response to the infamous COVID-19 pandemic.
References:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc,
Manila: REX Book Store, Inc.

 Alfred McCoy, Alredo Roces; 1985; Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American
Era 1900-1941; 40 Valencia St., New Manila, Quezon City; Vera-Reyes, Inc.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 38

 LESSON 3.5: Corazon Aquino’s Speech before the U.S. Congress

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Discuss the importance of the speech

  Explain the positive and negative effect of the speech
 Identify the important parts of the speech

Revisiting Corazon Aquino’s Speech before the U.S. Congress

Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino

 She was the symbol of the restoration of democracy and the takeover of the Marcos
Dictatorship in 1956.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 39

  EDSA People Power was the reason why Cory Aquino was designated in presidency that put the
Philippines in the international spotlight for dethroning a dictator through peaceful means.

 On September 18, 1986, seven months as a president, she went to the United States and spoke
 before joining the session of the U.S. Congress.
 She faced the new challenges as a president of the new republic.

 Began her speech and told everything what happened to her and her husband and other
circumstances happened to their life. She quoted the following:

“Three years ago I left America in grief, to bury my

husband, Ninoy Aquino. I thought I had left it also, to lay to
rest his restless dream of Philippine freedom. Today, I have
returned as the President of a free people.

In burying Ninoy, a whole nation honored him by that

brave and selfless act of giving honor to a nation in shame
recovered its own. A country that had lost faith in its
future, founded in a faithless and brazen act of murder. So,
in giving we receive, in losing we find, and out of defeat we
snatched our victory. For the nation, Ninoy became the
pleasing sacrifice that answered their prayers for freedom.

For myself and our children, Ninoy was a loving husband and father. His loss, three times in our lives
was always a deep and painful one. Fourteen years ago this month, was the first time we lost him. A
president-turned-dictator and traitor to his oath, suspended the constitution and shutdown the
Congress that was much like this one before which I'm honored to speak. He detained my husband
along with thousands of others - Senators, publishers, and anyone who had spoken up for the
democracy as its end drew near. But for Ninoy, a long and cruel ordeal was reserved. The dictator
already knew that Ninoy was not a body merely to be imprisoned but a spirit he must break. For even
as the dictatorship demolished one-by-one; the institutions of democracy, the press, the congress, the
independence of a judiciary, the protection of the Bill of Rights, Ninoy kept their spirit alive in himself.

The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They locked him up in a tiny, nearly
airless cell in a military camp in the north. They stripped him naked and held a threat of a sudden
midnight execution over his head. Ninoy held up manfully under all of it. I barely did as well. For forty-
three days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to him. This was the first time my
children and I felt we had lost him.

When that didn't work, they put him on trial

for subversion, murder and a host of other
crimes before a military commission. Ninoy
challenged its authority and went on a fast.
If he survi ved it, then he felt God intended
him for another fate. We had lost him again.
For nothing would hold him back from his

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 40

determination to see his fast through to the end. He stopped only when it dawned on him that the
government would keep his body alive after the fast had destroyed his brain. And so, with barely any
life in his body, he called off the fast on the 40th day. God meant him for other things, he felt. He did
not know that an early death would still be his fate, that only the timing was wrong. At any time during
his long ordeal, Ninoy could have made a separate peace with a dictatorship as so many of his
countrymen had done. But the spirit of democracy that inheres in our race and animates this chamber
could not be allowed to die. He held out in the loneliness of his cell and the frustration of exile, the
democratic alternative to the insatiable greed and mindless cruelty of the right and the purging
holocaust of the left.

And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than in the past. The news came to us in Boston. It
had to be after the three happiest years of our lives together. But his death was my country's
resurrection and the courage and faith by which alone they could be free again. The dictator had called
him a “nobody”. Yet, two million people threw aside their passivity and fear and escorted him to his
grave.

And so began the revolution that has brought me to democracy's most famous home, The Congress of
the United States.

The task had fallen on my shoulders, to continue offering the democratic alternative to our people.
Archibald MacLeish had said that democracy must be defended by arms when it is attacked by arms,
and with truth when it is attacked by lies. He failed to say how it shall be won. I held fast to Ninoy's
conviction that it must be by the ways of democracy. I held out for participation in the 1984 election the
dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be rigged. I was warned by the lawyers of the opposition,
that I ran the grave risk of legitimizing the foregone results of elections that were clearly going to be
fraudulent. But I was not fighting for lawyers but for the people in whose intelligence, I had implicit
faith. By the exercise of democracy even in a dictatorship, they would be prepared for democracy when
it came. And then also, it was the only way I knew by which we could measure our power even in the
terms dictated by the dictatorship. The people vindicated me in an election shamefully marked by
government thuggery and fraud. The opposition swept the elections, garnering a clear majority of the
votes even if they ended up (thanks to a corrupt Commission on Elections) with barely a third of the
seats in Parliament. Now, I knew our power.

Last year, in an excess of arrogance, the dictatorship called for its doom in a snap election. The people
obliged. With over a million signatures they drafted me
to challenge the dictatorship. And I, obliged.

The rest is the history that dramatically unfolded on

your television screens and across the front pages of
your newspapers. You saw a nation armed with
courage and integrity, stand fast by democracy against
threats and corruption. You saw women poll watchers
break out in tears as armed goons crashed the polling
places to steal the ballots. But just the same, they tied

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 41

themselves to the ballot boxes. You saw a people so committed to the ways of democracy that they
were prepared to give their lives for its pale imitation. At the end of the day before another wave of
fraud could distort the results, I announced the people's victory.

Many of you here today played a part in changing the policy of your country towards ours. We, the
Filipinos thank each of you for what you did. For balancing America's strategic interest against human
concerns illuminates the American vision of the world. The co-chairman of the United States observer
team, in his report to the President said, "I was witness to an extraordinary manifestation of democracy
on the part of the Filipino people. The ultimate result was the election of Mrs. Corazon Aquino as
President and Mr. Salvador Laurel as Vice-President of the Philippines."

When a subservient parliament announced my opponent's victory, the people then turned out in the
streets and proclaimed me the President of all the people. And true to their word, when a handful of
military leaders declared themselves against the dictatorship, the people rallied to their protection.
Surely, the people take care of their own. It is on that faith and the obligation it entails that I assumed
the Presidency.

As I came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it? That is my contract with my people and my
commitment to God. He had willed that the blood drawn with the lash shall not, in my country, be paid
by blood drawn by the sword but by the tearful joy of reconciliation.

We have swept away absolute power by a limited revolution that respected the life and freedom of
every Filipino. Now, we are restoring full constitutional government. Again, as we restored democracy
by the ways of democracy, so are we completing the constitutional structures of our new democracy
under a constitution that already gives full respect to the Bill of Rights. A jealously independent
Constitutional Commission is completing its draft which will be submitted later this year to a popular
referendum. When it is approved, there will be congressional elections. So within about a year from a
peaceful but national upheaval that overturned a dictatorship, we shall have returned to full
constitutional government. Given the polarization and breakdown we inherited, this is no small
achievement.

My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a communist insurgency that numbered less than
500. Unhampered by respect for human rights, he went at it hammer and tongs. By the time he fled,
that insurgency had grown to more than 16,000. I think there is a lesson here to be learned about trying
to stifle a thing with the means by which it grows. I don’t think anybody, in or outside our country,
concerned for a democratic and open Philippines, doubts what must be done. Through political
initiatives and local reintegration programs, we must seek to bring the insurgents down from the hills
and, by economic progress and justice, show
them that for which the best intentioned among
them fight.

As President, I will not betray the cause of peace

by which I came to power. Yet equally, and again
no friend of Filipino democracy will challenge
this, I will not stand by and allow an insurgent
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 42
leadership to spurn our offer of peace and kill our young soldiers, and threaten our new freedom.

Yet, I must explore the path of peace to the utmost for at its end, whatever disappointment I meet
there, is the moral basis for laying down the olive branch of peace and taking up the sword of war. Still,
should it come to that, I will not waver from the course laid down by your great liberator: “With malice
towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the rights as God gives us to see the rights, let us
finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the
battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Like Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy. Like Lincoln, I don’t relish it. Yet, I
will do whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country.

Finally, may I turn to that other slavery: our $26 billion foreign debt. I have said that we shall honor it.
Yet must the means by which we shall be able to do so be kept from us? Many conditions imposed on
the previous government that stole this debt continue to be imposed on us who never benefited from it.
And no assistance or liberality commensurate with the calamity that was visited on us has been
extended. Yet ours must have been the cheapest revolution ever. With little help from others, we
Filipinos fulfilled the first and most difficult conditions of the debt negotiation the full restoration of
democracy and responsible government. Elsewhere, and in other times of more stringent world
economic conditions, Marshall Plans and their like were felt to be necessary companions of returning
democracy.

When I met with President Reagan yesterday, we began an important dialogue about cooperation and
the strengthening of the friendship between our two countries. That meeting was both a confirmation
and a new beginning and should lead to positive results in all areas of common concern.

Today, we face the aspirations of a people who had known so much poverty and massive
unemployment for the past 14 years and yet offered their lives for the abstraction of democracy.
Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished village, they came to me with one cry:
democracy! Not food, although they clearly needed it, but democracy. Not work, although they surely
wanted it, but democracy. Not money, for they gave what little they had to my campaign. They didn’t
expect me to work a miracle that would instantly put food into their mouths, clothes on their back,
education in their children, and work that will put dignity in their lives. But I feel the pressing obligation
to respond quickly as the leader of a people so deserving of all these things.

We face a communist insurgency that feeds on economic deterioration, even as we carry a great share
of the free world defences in the Pacific. These are only two of the many burdens my people carry even
as they try to build a worthy and enduring house for their new democracy that may serve as well as a
redoubt for freedom in Asia. Yet, no sooner is one stone laid than two are taken away. Half our export
earnings, $2 billion out of $4 billion, which was all we could earn in the restrictive markets of the world,
went to pay just the interest on a debt whose benefit the Filipino people never received.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 43

Still, we fought for honor, and, if only for honor, we shall pay. And yet, should we have to wring the
payments from the sweat of our men’s faces and sink all the wealth piled up by the bondsman’s two
hundred fifty years of unrequited toil?

Yet to all Americans, as the leader of a proud and free people, I address this question: has there been a
greater test of national commitment to the ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone
through? You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were
reluctant to receive it. And here you have a people who won it by themselves and need only the help to
preserve it.

Three years ago, I said thank you, America, for the haven from oppression, and the home you gave
Ninoy, myself and our children, and for the three happiest years of our lives together. Today, I say, join
us, America, as we build a new home for democracy, another haven for the oppressed, so it may stand
as a shining testament of our two nation’s commitment to freedom.”

When former President Corazon Aquino spoke before a joint session of the United States Congress in
September of 1986, the dust was only beginning to settle. It was her first visit to America since the
dictator Ferdinand Marcos had been deposed in February of the same year, and the Philippines was
reckoning with everything his administration had inflicted. That included $26 billion in total foreign
debt, and a communist insurgency that grew, throughout the Marcos era, from 500 armed guerrillas to
16,000. We were just at the start of a long road to recovery.
So Aquino lodged an appeal for help. Addressing the House, she delivered a historic speech that
managed to sway in our favor the vote for an emergency $200-million aid appropriation. In the moving
speech penned by her speechwriter (and our current ambassador to the United Nations) Teddy Locsin,
Jr., Aquino defended her reconciliatory stand on the communist insurgency—a sensitive issue in the
U.S., given that this was 1986—and asked for financial aid towards rebuilding the Philippine economy.

"We fought for honor, and, if only for honor, we shall pay," she said, agreeing to pay the debt
that was stolen by Marcos. "And yet, should we have to wring the payments from the sweat of
our men’s faces and sink all the wealth piled up by the bondsman’s two hundred fifty years of
unrequited toil?"

The speech was impassioned, deeply personal, and effective; interrupted 11 times by applause and
bookended with standing ovations. House Speaker Tip O'Neill called it the "finest speech I've ever
heard in my 34 years in Congress." Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole told her, "Cory, you hit a home
run." And House Minority Whip Trent Lott said, "Let's just say the emotion of the moment saved the
day." It would go down in the annals of our history as one of the former President's finest speeches.
However, it is absurd to think that thanking America for the democracy from the ruling of the
Marcoses was something to do with America. As looking in the context of American occupation in the
Philippines, giving us full independence in 1946, why do we still need to thank them for the freedom
that they were not part of. The battle of Filipino people in the EDSA revolution was the battle of the
masses against Martial era of the Philippine republic, not of the American.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 44
 Learning Activity:

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. What was in the speech that convinced the US House of Representative to grant $200 million
emergency aid to the Philippines?
2. What do you think is the importance of Corazon Aquino’s speech in the narrative of history
in the Philippines?
References:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.
Online references:
Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino Speech;
https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2017/03/21/speech-before-the-joint-session-ofthe-united-states-
congress-sept-18-1986/

CHAPTER 4
Philippine History: Spaces for Conflict and
Controversies
In this chapter, we will analyse four historiographical problems in Philippine history in an attempt to
apply what we have learned in the work of a historian and the conduct of historical inquiry. In the
previous chapters and lessons we have unfolded historical facts – its way of discipline in conducting
historical narratives, analysing different sources in gathering historical information, and the concept of
various historical sources in history. Through this, the student will have a wider access of analysing and
interpreting historical events with the use of historical sources.

LESSON 4.1: Interpretation of Historical Writings

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Discuss the importance of interpreting historical writings.

 Identify the elements of interpreting historical writings

Introduction

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 45

In the perspective Philippine history, Renato Constantino have defined it as “people’s history”, he
assert that history is “recorded struggle of people for ever increasing freedom and for newer and
higher realization of the human person.” It is not about the story of man as the individual, but man as
the associated man. Man interacts with nature and with other men, thus, consciously changing his own
perspective and so to some extent, the system of environment.

Base on Constantino’ supposition that “Philippine history is a story of struggle,” the study has to be
assessed with a nationalist perspective in the interest of objectivity. This is to allow the modern Filipino
to form a clear picture of his ancestors’ conditions and sentiments from the point of view of Filipino
writers to correct some historical impressions made by colonial historiography tending to racial bias.

History is not merely the work of heroes and great men as elucidated by Constantino. He pointed out
that the masses of individuals as well as the social forces generated by collective lives and struggles
have to be included. Men must struggle together to survive the exigencies of natural or social forces
intervening their development. The associated man, as part of the society, makes history through his
collective lives. History is not necessarily presenting a long, unbroken chain of events. It illustrate
movement of people and ideas over time and space. They may even be in conflict with one another. It
is the task of the historian to weave particular events into a total view so that these experiences can be
summed up and analyse.

What is historical interpretation?

It is the process where we describe, analyse, evaluate, and create an explanation of past events to craft
historical narrative. The interpretation is based on primary and secondary historical sources, then
analyse the evidence, contexts, points of view, and frames of reference.

 Historical Interpretation requires synthesizing (combining) a variety of evidence, primary and

secondary (critical thinking). Historical thinking involves the ability to arrive at meaningful and
persuasive understandings of the past by applying all the other historical thinking skills, by
drawing appropriately on ideas from different fields of inquiry or disciplines and by creatively
fusing disparate, relevant (and perhaps contradictory) evidence from primary sources and
secondary works. Additionally, synthesis may involve applying insights about the past to other
historical contexts or circumstances, including the present. These insights (secondary sources)
may come from social science theories and perspectives and/or the writings of other historians
(historiography).
Three elements of Interpretation

 Purposeful, thoughtful efforts--Interpretations are conscious reflections on the past, not simply
irrational spur-of-the-moment opinions. Take time to apply logic and organization to your
explanation of the past-not merely emote or react to the evidence.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 46

  Representations--Interpretations are efforts to give an audience an image or description of the
event/issue being focused on. We cannot recreate the past perfectly, but we can try to
represent faithfully how events transpired by ground our version in the historical evidence.

 Past events--Interpretations are the reflections of those of us studying the past, not of the
participants in those events. We refer to the collection representations of the past done by
historians as historiography. The views of participants from the past constitute our primary
sources or historical evidence. Without the process of reflection removed from the event by
time the creator of the view is inevitably partially influenced by the impact the person/event
had on them.

Linking these elements to the historical evidence. The result will be a defensible, intelligible historical
interpretation.
https://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/hi216/hist_interp.htm#:~:text=Historical%20interpretation%20is%20the%20process,view%2C%20and%20frames%20
of%20reference.

In interpreting historical writing it involves different historical perspective because every historical
sources carries various views of a specific historical event. Thus, historical interpretation my contain
some discrepancies, contradictions, ambiguous, and are oftentimes the focus of descent.

What factors lead to different historians forming different theories and interpretations about the
same events?

 Political word-view. Our own political views whether we have liberal, socialist, or conservative
leanings – shapes the way we see the past, as much as it shapes how we see things in the
 present.
 New evidence. Often, new evidence such as documents or records is uncovered. This then
 contributes to research and new historical narratives, which may alter traditional views about
 ‘what happened’.
 Time. Histories are constantly being read, written and revised; as social values and expectations
 change, so too does the way that historians approach their research and writing.
 Views about history. Different historians have different views about what history is, what it
 should be and how it should be researched and written – this influences their approach.
 Upbringing. Parents, family, schools, their environment, various life experiences, travel, study
 and research can all impact on someone’s historiographical point-of-view.
 Emphasis. Historians have a specific view of how it should be written and what should be
emphasized. Some focus on social aspects, others on political factors.

Learning Activity:

Reflection. Write (hand written) your answer in a short bond paper.

1. What have you learned from this lesson?
References:

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 47

  Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
Readings.

LESSON 4.2: First Catholic Mass

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Compare the different claims on the First Catholic Mass

  Identify the two sites where the First Catholic Mass conducted
 Formulate arguments for and against a particular claim

Introduction
Eight months before the 500th anniversary of the “first” Mass in the country, the National Historical
Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) has determined that Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan
and his Spanish contingent held the event in Limasawa town, Southern Leyte. The NHCP adopted the
recommendation of a panel of experts reaffirming earlier findings that 1521 Easter Sunday Mass was
celebrated in Limasawa and not in Butuan, as claimed by some historians. NHCP chair Rene Escalante
said in a statement:

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 48

 “The panel unanimously agreed that the evidence and arguments presented by the pro-Butuan
advocates are not sufficient and convincing enough to warrant the repeal or reversal of the
ruling on the case by the NHI (National Historic Institute).”

On June 19, 1960, R.A No. 2733 was approved and it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Philippine Congress Assembled: Section 1. The site in Magallanes, Limasawa
Island in the Province of Leyte, where the first Mass in the Philippines was held is hereby declared a
national shrine to commemorate the birth of Christianity in the Philippines.
The Mass

In the afternoon of Monday, March 25, 1521, Magellan left Homonhon. Due to a storm, he was forced
to sail south, along the northeast tip of Mindanao
towards Butuan Bay, which provided a shelter from
the typhoon.

On Holy Thursday, March 28, the fleet landed in

Masao, Butuan, Agusan Del Norte, a fertile,
heavily-forested, and mountainous kingdom ruled
by a rich king named Raha Kolambu. Kolambu
welcomed Magellan. They made a blood compact
on Good Friday, March 29, 1521 to seal their new
friendship and brotherhood. This was the first
recorded blood compact in the annals of the
country.

On Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521, a Mass was held on Masao’s shore. It was the first Catholic Mass
held in the Philippines. It was officiated by Rev. Pedro De Valderrama, fleet chaplain, and was attended
by Magellan, Kings Kolambu and Siagu, Spanish voyagers and Filipinos.

Since the Spanish era it was have been the subject of controversy whether the first mass was
concluded in Limasawa or in Masao. So, where is the site of the first mass? Although Limasawa,
Southern Leyte, has the official tittle at present, and it would take new legislation to dislodge it, the
evidence points to Masao, now a municipality of Butuan, Agusan del Norte, as the site of the first
Mass.

The evidence for Masao, rather than Limasawa are as follows:

1. The name of the place. In all the primary sources, including the diary of Antonio Pigafetta, the
chronicles of Magellan’s voyage, the name of the place was three syllables – “Masao” or something
close to it. Limasawa has four syllables and begins with
another letter.
2. The route from Homonhon. According to the primary
records, again, the expedition travelled 20 to 25 leagues from
Homonhon, their first mass, taking a west southwest course. If they
had been at Limasawa Island, the distance is only about 14.6

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 49

 leagues, or one half that length. Moreover, the isla nd of Limasawa is blocked from Homonhon
by the tip of Southern Leyte.
3. The latitude position. Some of the primary sources locate the place at 90 north latitude, and
others at 9 2/3‘. The latitude position eliminate Limasawa, because it is closer by ten degrees,
and strengthens the claim Masao, Butuan because it is exactly at nine degrees.
4. The route to Cebu. The route to Cebu taken by the explorers is almost exactly similar to the one
now taken by motor vessels from Cebu to Butuan. The King of Masao (Kolambu) even guided
the explorers to Cebu and acted as their interpreter and intermediary when they met the Cebu
king. On the contrary, there is no sea traffic from Limasawa to Cebu, according to Pigaffeta, was
35 leagues (140miles). If it were from Limasawa that they came, the distance would only be 80
miles, or only half the alledge distanced travelled.
5. The geographical features. The following physical features of the first mass point to Butuan,
rather than Limasawa, as follows:
 The bonfire: the explorers were attracted to the light of a fire present the night before
they came to shore. Now, the name “Masao”, in Butuanon precisely means “bright”,
which could refer to the local customs of celebrating a harvest by cooking rice flakes in
 open fires. By contrast there is no rice field in Limasawa.
 The balanghai: which was a prominent feature of the story of their stay. It was said that
the king came to their ship in a balanghai, and Pigafetta and his companion attended a
party in a ritual balanghai, with the local king. Butuan is now the sight of at least nine
excavated balanghai relics; by contrast, Limasawa has no significant archeological relics
 or balanghai tradition.
 Houses: the natives at Masao built their houses on stilts, but the natives of Limasawa
 built low houses, due to frequent typhoons in the area.
 Abundance of gold: the western explorers got excited at the abundance of gold in
Masao and Butuan, for that was the main currency at the time. Both archaeological
relics (eg. The gold image of butuan) and gold mines today attested to the abundance of
 gold in the Agusan valley. However, there is
 no gold in Limasawa.
 A developed settlement: Magellan saw a
thriving community at Masao, where people
practised honest market transactions,
instead of stealing the items they wanted, as
in the Landrones, and the king Masao
showed diplomatic skills. The affluence and
dignified bearing of the brother kings were
due to the rich natural resources of their
kingdoms. The Masao king enjopyed high
prestige among his peers in the Visayas and
Mindanao and exerted a great influence on
them, like the king of Cebu to whom he
introduced Magellan.

The social status of the Masao king must have been due to the archaeologically proven
importance of north-eastern Mindanao as a trading and cultural center in ancient
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 50
 Philippines. It is believed that Butuan city was a thriving port long before the Europeans
came. Certainly, linguistic studies indicate that the Manobos of the Agusan Valley were
the earliest settlers of Mindanao, whose descendants later spread out to Sulu and Jolo.
Butuan was a major center of trade and international commerce is Southeast Asia for
such items as camphor from Borneo, Moluccan spices, and exotic birds, long before he
Spaniards developed Manila as a port. By contrast, the East Visayas, including Limasawa,
never attained such importance. And the Limasawans have always been a poor cousin of
the Warays.

Therefore, looking into accounts and annals presented in contrasting Masao and Limasawa, with
support of different historical sources. Masao, in the perspective of historical writings and facts was
the place where the “first Catholic Mass” was held.

Learning Activity: Critic

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. Where do you think was the first mass held? Support your answer with explained evidences.
References:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc,
Manila: REX Book Store, Inc.

 Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh
St., Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.
Supplementary Reading Materials:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1325039/limasawa-not-butuan-affirmed-as-site-of-first-mass-in-
ph https://lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra1960/ra_2733_1960.html

LESSON 4.3: Cavite Mutiny

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Identify the conflicting views about the First Cry of the Revolution
  Examine each source in its accounts of the start of the revolution
 Formulate arguments for and against a particular primary source

Introduction
Filipinos remembered the declaration of Philippine independence as it is very important event for all
the Filipinos. We always celebrate our independence – remembering the day where we finally achieve
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 51
Filipino sovereignty. 1898 came to be a very significant year for all of us, the same goes in 1896 – a
year when Philippine revolution broke out owing to the Filipinos’ desire to be free from the abuses of
Spanish colonial regime, however, as a Filipino who celebrate those historic years, we should also
need to remind our Filipino selves that 1872 was a historic event – it influenced propaganda
movement of Rizal, the 1896, and the Philippine Independence.

There are two major events happened in 1872, first was the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and the other was the
martyrdom of the three martyr priests in the persons of Fathers Mariano Gomes, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA). However, not all of us knew that there were different accounts in
reference to the said event. All Filipinos must know the different sides of the story—since this event
led to another tragic yet meaningful part of our history—the execution of GOMBURZA which in effect a
major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the Filipinos.

The Cavite Mutiny of 1872

On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workers in the Cavite arsenal
mutinied. Their leader was Lamadrid, a Filipino sergeant. The mutineers had been led to believe that
Filipino soldiers in Manila would join them in a concerted uprising, the signal being the firing of rockets
from the city walls on that night. Unfortunately, the suburb of Sampaloc in Manila celebrated its fiesta
on that very night with a gay display of fireworks. The Cavite plotters, thinking the hostilities had been
started by the Manila troops, rose in arms, killed their Spanish officers, and took control of the arsenal
and fort.

The following morning, government troops under Don

Felipe Ginoves were rushed to Cavite. A bloody fight
ensued. Many of the mutineers, including Lamadrid, were
killed in the fighting. On January 22, the survivors were
subdued, taken prisoner and brought to Manila.

This mutiny was magnified by the Spaniards into a “revolt”

to implicate the Filipino priest and patriots. It was in
reality only a violent outburst of the Cavite soldiers and
workers who resented the government action in
abolishing their former privileges, notably exemption from
the forced labor and the tribune. Spanish writers alleged
that it was a seditious “revolt” directed against Spanish rule and instigated by Fathers Burgos, Gomez,
Zamora, and other Filipino leaders. Such charge, although false, was made by the Spanish authorities
because it gave them justification to persecute Filipino patriots who advocated reforms.

Immediately after the mutiny, scores of Filipino priests and patriots were arrested and thrown into jail.
They were tried by a military court behind closed doors on the charge of treason and sedition. On
January 27, 1872, Governor Izquierdo approved the death sentence on 41 of the mutineers. On
February 6, eleven more were condemned to death, but the governor commuted their death penalty
to life imprisonment. On February 8, Camarino was sentenced to die and eleven of the Guias de la

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 52

Torre were each given ten-year prison sentence for their complicity in the mutiny. Other patriots and
priest were exciled to Guam.

The trial of Gum-Bur-Za

The three most illustrious victims of the Cavite Mutiny were Father
Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora. Their trial, like those of
their fellow accused, was a farce. There was no positive evidence of their
guilt. The star witness of the government, Francisco Zaldua, former
Bicolano soldier of the battalion of Artillery, was bribed by the government
authorities to testify against Gom-Bur-Za.

He incriminated the three heroic priests. Thus was the triumvirate of

priest-martyrs railroaded to their doom. During the farcical trial the lawyers
of Gom-Bur-Za defense made no effort for the acquittal of their clients.
One of them, Attorney Jose Arrieta, Burgos’ vindictive enemy, did not plead the case to prove Burgos’
innocence. On the contrary he merely requested the court for clemency, declaring that Burgos had
confessed his guilt.

Aroused by his lawyer’s damaging perfidy, Father Burgos flared up in the courtroom and exclaimed:

“I have not confessed any guilt, for I am not guilty! That is not my defence – that gentleman
(pointing to Arrieta) has changed it. I deny all the charges against me. They have no foundation
in fact or law.”
The Martyr’s Execution

At sunrise of February 17, 1872, Father Burgos, Gomez, and

Zamora, were escorted under heavy guard to Luneta. A vast
crowd, consisting of Filipinos and foreigners, witnessed the
execution.

Zaldua, who testified falsely against the martyrs, was executed

first. Apparently, the Spanish promise of a pardon and a sum of
gold, which he was supposed to receive for testifying falsely
against the three priests, was not fulfilled.
Of the three priest-martyrs, Father Gomez, aged 84, was the
first to be garrotted. As he dignifiedly walked towards the garrotte (strangulation machine), his
spectacles accidently fell to the ground. He picked them up, calmly put them on, and said:
“Let us go where the leaves never move without the will of God.”

These were his last words. He was followed by Father Zamora, aged 37, who was unaware of his fate,
for he had lost his mind. The last to be executed was Father Burgos, aged 35, youngest and most
brilliant of the martyred triumvirate, the executioner knelt before him and said: “Father, forgive me,
for I’m going to kill you.” Calmly, Father Burgos replied to him: “You are forgiven, my son. I know you
are complying with your duty. Proceed then with your work.” As he was being strangled, Father Burgos
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 53
prayed: “My Lord, Father of mine, receive into your bosom the soul of an inno….” And death cut short
his last prayer.

1872 Cavite Mutiny: Spanish Perspective

Source: Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay, “The two faces of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny,” National Historical Commission of the Philippines,
published 5 September, 2012

Jose Montero y Vidal, a prolific Spanish historian documented the

event and highlighted it as an attempt of the Indios to overthrow the
Spanish government in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Gov. Gen. Rafael
Izquierdo’s official report magnified the event and made use of it to
implicate the native clergy, which was then active in the call for
secularization. The two accounts complimented and corroborated
with one other, only that the general’s report was more spiteful.
Initially, both Montero and Izquierdo scored out that the abolition of
privileges enjoyed by the workers of Cavite arsenal such as non-
payment of tributes and exemption from force labor were the main
reasons of the “revolution” as how they called it, however, other
causes were enumerated by them including the Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular
throne, dirty propagandas proliferated by unrestrained press, democratic, liberal and republican books
and pamphlets reaching the Philippines, and most importantly, the presence of the native clergy who
out of animosity against the Spanish friars, “conspired and supported” the rebels and enemies of
Spain. In particular, Izquierdo blamed the unruly Spanish Press for “stockpiling” malicious propagandas
grasped by the Filipinos. He reported to the King of Spain that the “rebels” wanted to overthrow the
Spanish government to install a new “hari” in the likes of Fathers Burgos and Zamora. The general even
added that the native clergy enticed other participants by giving them charismatic assurance that their
fight will not fail because God is with them coupled with handsome promises of rewards such as
employment, wealth, and ranks in the army. Izquierdo, in his report lambasted the Indios as gullible
and possessed an innate propensity for stealing.

The two Spaniards deemed that the event of 1872 was planned earlier and was thought of it as a big
conspiracy among educated leaders, mestizos, abogadillos or native lawyers, residents of Manila and
Cavite and the native clergy. They insinuated that the conspirators of Manila and Cavite planned to
liquidate high-ranking Spanish officers to be followed by the massacre of the friars. The alleged pre-
concerted signal among the conspirators of Manila and Cavite was the firing of rockets from the walls
of Intramuros.

According to the accounts of the two, on 20 January 1872, the district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast
of the Virgin of Loreto, unfortunately participants to the feast celebrated the occasion with the usual
fireworks displays. Allegedly, those in Cavite mistook the fireworks as the sign for the attack, and just
like what was agreed upon, the 200-men contingent headed by Sergeant Lamadrid launched an attack
targeting Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal. When the news reached the iron-fisted Gov.
Izquierdo, he readily ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt. The
“revolution” was easily crushed when the expected reinforcement from Manila did not come ashore.
Major instigators including Sergeant Lamadrid were killed in the skirmish, while the
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 54
GOMBURZA were tried by a court-martial and were sentenced to die by strangulation. Patriots like
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa and other abogadillos were
suspended by the Audencia (High Court) from the practice of law, arrested and were sentenced with
life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. Furthermore, Gov. Izquierdo dissolved the native regiments
of artillery and ordered the creation of artillery force to be composed exclusively of the Peninsulares.

On 17 February 1872 in an attempt of the Spanish government and Frailocracia to instill fear among
the Filipinos so that they may never commit such daring act again, the GOMBURZA were executed. This
event was tragic but served as one of the moving forces that shaped Filipino nationalism.

A Response to Injustice: The Filipino Version of the Incident

Source: Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay, “The two faces of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny,” National Historical Commission of the Philippines,
published 5 September, 2012

Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher, wrote the Filipino version
of the bloody incident in Cavite. In his point of view, the incident was a mere mutiny by the native
Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal who turned out to be dissatisfied with the abolition
of their privileges. Indirectly, Tavera blamed Gov. Izquierdo’s cold-blooded policies such as the
abolition of privileges of the workers and native army members of the arsenal and the prohibition of
the founding of school of arts and trades for the Filipinos, which the general believed as a cover-up for
the organization of a political club.

On 20 January 1872, about 200 men comprised of soldiers, laborers of the arsenal, and residents of
Cavite headed by Sergeant Lamadrid rose in arms and assassinated the commanding officer and
Spanish officers in sight. The insurgents were expecting support from the bulk of the army
unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The news about the mutiny reached authorities in Manila and Gen.
Izquierdo immediately ordered the reinforcement of Spanish troops in Cavite. After two days, the
mutiny was officially declared subdued.

Tavera believed that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the Cavite Mutiny as a powerful lever by
magnifying it as a full-blown conspiracy involving not only the native army but also included residents
of Cavite and Manila, and more importantly the native clergy to overthrow the Spanish government in
the Philippines. It is noteworthy that during the time, the Central Government in Madrid announced its
intention to deprive the friars of all the powers of intervention in matters of civil government and the
direction and management of educational institutions. This turnout of events was believed by Tavera,
prompted the friars to do something drastic in their dire sedire to maintain power in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, in the intention of installing reforms, the Central Government of Spain welcomed an
educational decree authored by Segismundo Moret promoted the fusion of sectarian schools run by
the friars into a school called Philippine Institute. The decree proposed to improve the standard of
education in the Philippines by requiring teaching positions in such schools to be filled by competitive
examinations. This improvement was warmly received by most Filipinos in spite of the native clergy’s
zest for secularization.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 55

The friars, fearing that their influence in the Philippines would be a thing of the past, took advantage of
the incident and presented it to the Spanish Government as a vast conspiracy organized throughout
the archipelago with the object of destroying Spanish sovereignty. Tavera sadly confirmed that the
Madrid government came to believe that the scheme was true without any attempt to investigate the
real facts or extent of the alleged “revolution” reported by Izquierdo and the friars.

Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny were sentenced life imprisonment while
members of the native clergy headed by the GOMBURZA were tried and executed by garrote. This
episode leads to the awakening of nationalism and eventually to the outbreak of Philippine Revolution
of 1896. The French writer Edmund Plauchut’s account complimented Tavera’s account by confirming
that the event happened due to discontentment of the arsenal workers and soldiers in Cavite fort. The
Frenchman, however, dwelt more on the execution of the three martyr priests which he actually
witnessed.

Considering the four accounts of the 1872 Mutiny, there were some basic facts that remained to be
unvarying:

 First, there was dissatisfaction among the workers of the arsenal as well as the members of the
native army after their privileges were drawn back by General Izquierdo;

 Second, General Izquierdo introduced rigid and strict policies that made the Filipinos move and
turn away from Spanish government out of disgust;

 Third, the Central Government failed to conduct an investigation on what truly transpired but
relied on reports of Izquierdo and the friars and the opinion of the public;

 Fourth, the happy days of the friars were already numbered in 1872 when the Central
Government in Spain decided to deprive them of the power to intervene in government affairs
as well as in the direction and management of schools prompting them to commit frantic
moves to extend their stay and power;

 Fifth, the Filipino clergy members actively participated in the secularization movement in order
to allow Filipino priests to take hold of the parishes in the country making them prey to the
rage of the friars;

 Sixth, Filipinos during the time were active participants, and responded to what they deemed
as injustices; and

 Lastly, the execution of GOMBURZA was a blunder on the part of the Spanish government, for
the action severed the ill-feelings of the Filipinos and the event inspired Filipino patriots to call
for reforms and eventually independence. There may be different versions of the event, but
one thing is certain, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny paved way for a momentous 1898.

Learning Activity:

Requirements:
1. Among the different accounts, which do you think is reliable and valid? Why?
2. Is there a chance that all of the sources are valid?

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 56

References:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc,
Manila: REX Book Store, Inc.

 Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh
St., Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.

 Mindanao State University; Department of History; Philippine History: A Compilation of
 Readings.
 Nicola, Zafra; 1956; Readings in Philippine History; University of the Philippines, Quezon City

Supplementary Reading material:
https://filipinojournal.com/the-1872-cavite-mutiny/
https://nhcp.gov.ph/the-two-faces-of-the-1872-cavite-mutiny/
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LESSON 4.4: Retract of Jose Rizal

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Identify the conflicting accounts about the Rizal’s Retraction
  Explain the consequences of Rizal’s retraction claim to Philippine historiography
 
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 57
  Formulate an argument for or against in each statements or accounts

Introduction
We have a retraction document, but we choose to believe otherwise. Just as each generation writes its
own history, Filipinos fashion Rizal in their own image and likeness. Both affirmative and negative
proponents of the Rizal retraction have their points, but then each side sees what it wants to see. Since
history is basically built on the faint traces of the past, built on the research of others, we seldom
realize that there are many gaps in history that are readily filled-in by imagination and bias. The
question of Rizal’s retraction goes deeper than the authenticity of a document or motives of a man
about to face death. Rizal’s retraction is a reflection of our personal image of him.
The Jesuit Version
Source: Rene Escalante, “Did Jose Rizal Die a Catholic? Revisiting Rizal’s Last 24 Hours Using Spy Reports”, Southeast Asian Studies, published 16
December, 2019

Rizal’s retraction have been a huge controversy. News report have sprouted regarding him denouncing
his masonic belief and re-professing his catholic faith. The local newspapers that reported the
retraction were La Voz Española, El Español, El Comercio, and La Oceania Española. The news
correspondents of La Voz Española even claimed to “have seen and read his own handwritten
retraction” (Cavanna 1956, 2). The Spain-based newspapers and magazines that covered the retraction
were El Imparcial, Heraldo de Madrid, and El Siglo Futuro. They based their narrative on the
testimonies of the Jesuits and other colonial officials who visited and talked to Rizal the day before he
was executed.

The Jesuits figured prominently during the last 24

hours of Rizal’s life because Manila Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda asked them to take care of
Rizal’s spiritual needs while the latter awaited the
hour of his death. In an affidavit that he issued in
1917, Fr. Pio Pi (the Superior of the Jesuits) declared
that he had accepted the task because he considered
Rizal to be Ateneo Municipal High School’s “very
distinguished and dear pupil” (Cavanna 1956, 15). The
Jesuits he sent to Rizal’s detention cell were Frs.
Vicente Balaguer, Jose Vilaclara, Estanislao March,
Luis Visa, Federico Faura, and Miguel Saderra
(Cavanna 1956, 11). Fr. Pi instructed them to
persuade Rizal to retract his anti-Catholic teachings as
well as his affiliation with the Masons. The Jesuits
were supposed to demand these two things before ministering the necessary sacraments. Fr. Pi also
ordered that the retraction should be in writing using either of the two sample retraction templates
approved by the archbishop.

Fr. Miguel Saderra (rector of Ateneo Municipal) and Fr. Luis Visa were the first emissaries to visit Rizal.
Fr. Visa brought with him the figurine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that Rizal had carved while a student
of Ateneo Municipal. Rizal allegedly took it gladly, kissed it, and put it on his desk. In the course of their
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 58
conversation, Rizal asked the visitors whether he could see his former teachers at Ateneo Municipal.
The Jesuits replied that only Fr. Vilaclara was in town (Arcilla 1994, 122). They added that Fr. Balaguer,
the Jesuit missionary whom Rizal had met in Dapitan, was also available in case he wanted to meet him
(Arcilla 1994, 121). Rizal answered positively, and the Jesuits left to fetch their two confreres.

Of all the Jesuits whom Fr. Pi commissioned to deal with Rizal, it was Fr. Vicente Balaguer who wrote
extensively about what happened in Rizal’s detention cell the day before he was executed. His version
of the story is narrated in a letter he sent to Fr. Pi in 1908 and in an affidavit he executed in Murcia,
Spain, on August 8, 1917 (Cavanna 1956, 6–10, 260–266; Arcilla 1994, 121). In both documents, Fr.
Balaguer used the first person pronoun, which suggests that he was personally present and involved in
the negotiation. He even claimed that he “was the one who assisted Rizal most of that sad day’s hours.
I argued with him and demolished his arguments” (Cavanna 1956, 115). He also persuaded everyone to
take his affidavit as a primary source because he had personal knowledge of Rizal’s retraction. In his
sworn affidavit he wrote:

“Of all that has been narrated, I am positive by personal knowledge. I have personally
intervened and witnessed it myself; and I subscribed and confirmed it with an oath. And lest,
perhaps, someone may think that I could not remember it with so many details, after twenty
years. I testify that on the very day of Rizal’s death, I wrote a very detailed account of
everything. The original of this account I have preserved, and from it I have taken all the data of
the present narration.” (Cavanna 1956, 10)

According to Fr. Balaguer, he and Fr. Vilaclara arrived in Rizal’s prison cell around 10 o’clock in the
morning. He mentioned in his letter and affidavit that their encounter with Rizal started with a
discussion of some articles of Catholic faith. They debated on issues such as the supremacy of faith
over reason and the dogmatic differences that divided Catholics and Protestants. Since time was not
on their side, they persuaded Rizal not to spend so much time discussing faith-related issues and focus
instead on how to die in the state of grace so that he could enter heaven.

They explained to him that they could not administer the sacraments he needed without him signing a
retraction letter and making a profession of faith. Fr. Balaguer mentioned that Rizal softened a bit
when he warned him that his soul would go to hell if he did not return to the Catholic fold. He
reminded him that outside the Catholic Church, there was no salvation (Extra Ecclesiam Catholicam
nulla datur salus) (Cavanna 1956, 8). The two Jesuits left Rizal’s prison around lunchtime, with Rizal still
undecided over whether to sign the retraction letter or not. The Jesuits went straight to the
archbishop’s palace and informed their superiors of what had transpired during their first meeting with
Rizal.

Frs. Balaguer and Vilaclara returned to Rizal around 3 o’clock in the afternoon and tried until sunset to
persuade him to recant. They were still not able to convince him to sign the retraction document. Their
third meeting with Rizal took place at 10 o’clock that night, and it was during this meeting that they
showed Rizal the two retraction templates Fr. Pi had given them. According to Fr. Balaguer, Rizal found
the first template unacceptable because it was too long and its language and style were not reflective
of his personality (Arcilla 1994, 114). So Fr. Balaguer withdrew it and offered the shorter one.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 59

Rizal did not sign it right away because he was uncomfortable with the statement “I abominate
Masonry as a society reprobated by the Church.” He said he had met Masons in London who had
nothing against the Catholic religion. Rizal wanted to emphasize that Philippine Masonry was not
hostile to Catholicism and that Masonry in London did not require its members to renounce their faith.
The Jesuits allowed Rizal to revise the retraction template, and his final version read, “I abominate
Masonry as the enemy of the Church and reprobated by the same Church” (Cavanna 1956, 9). After
making other minor changes to the draft, Rizal signed his retraction letter before midnight. Fr. Balaguer
handed it over to Fr. Pi, who in turn submitted it to Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda (Guerrero 1971,
459). The text of the retraction states:

Me declaro católico, y en esta Religión, en que nací y me eduqué, quiero vivir y morir. Me
retracto de todo corazón de cuanto en mis palabras, escritos, impresos y conducta ha habido
contrario á mi calidad de hijo de la Iglesia. Creo y profeso cuanto ella enseña, y me someto á
cuanto ella manda. Abomino de la Masoneria, como enemiga que es de la Iglesia, y como
Sociedad prohibida por la misma Iglesia.

Puede el Prelado diocesano, como Autoridad superior eclesiástica, hacer pública esta
manifestación, espontánea mía, para reparar el escándalo que mis actos hayan podido causar, y
para que Dios y los hombres me perdonen

Manila, 29 de Diciembre de 1896

José Rizal

Jefe Del Piquete

Juan Del Fresno

Ayudante de Plaza
Eloy Moure (Retana 1907, 426–427)

Declare myself a Catholic and in this Religion in which I

was born and educated I wish to live and die. I retract
with all my heart whatever in my words, writings,
publications, and conduct has been contrary to my
character as son of the Catholic Church. I believe and I
confess whatever she teaches, and I submit to whatever
she demands. I abominate Masonry, as the enemy which
is of the Church, and as a Society prohibited by the
Church.

The Diocesan Prelate may, as the Superior Ecclesiastical Authority, make public this
spontaneous manifestation of mine in order to repair the scandal which my acts may have
caused and so that God and people may pardon me.

The Chief of the Picket

Juan Del Fresno

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 60

 Adjutant of the Plaza
Eloy Moure (Guerrero 1971, 458–459)

The Cuerpo de Vigilancia Version

Source: Rene Escalante, “Did Jose Rizal Die a Catholic? Revisiting Rizal’s Last 24 Hours Using Spy Reports”, Southeast Asian Studies, published 16
December, 2019

The report of Moreno (NAP Manuscript A-6, Doc. 1) presents another eyewitness account of what
transpired in Rizal’s prison cell before he was executed. It contains several details that could be used
for and against the claim that Rizal returned to the Catholic fold and renounced Masonry. The account
may be considered more objective than earlier ones because Moreno was neither a member of the
Catholic hierarchy nor a known Mason. He was in Fort Santiago not to serve a particular interest group
but simply to perform a function connected with his work. Moreover, the fact that his report was
written a day after the event lessened the possibility that it was edited to please a particular group.
The report said:

Most Illustrious Sir, the agent of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia stationed in Fort Santiago to report on
the events during the [illegible] day in prison of the accused Jose Rizal, informs me on this date
of the following:

At 7:50 yesterday morning, Jose Rizal entered death row accompanied by his counsel, Señor
Taviel de Andrade, and the Jesuit priest [Jose] Vilaclara. At the urgings of the former and
moments after entering, he was served a light breakfast. At approximately 9, the Adjutant of
the Garrison, Señor [Eloy] Maure, asked Rizal if he wanted anything. He replied that at the
moment he only wanted a prayer book which was brought to him shortly by Father [Estanislao]
March.

Señor Andrade left death row at 10 and Rizal spoke for a long while with the Jesuit fathers,
March and Vilaclara, regarding religious matters, it seems. It appears that these two presented
him with a prepared retraction on his life and deeds that he refused to sign. They argued about
the matter until 12:30 when Rizal ate some poached egg and a little chicken. Afterwards he
asked to leave to write and wrote for a long time by himself.

At 3 in the afternoon, Father March entered the chapel and Rizal handed him what he had
written. Immediately the chief of the firing squad, Señor [Juan] Del Fresno and the Assistant of
the Plaza, Señor Maure, were informed. They entered death row and together with Rizal signed
the document that the accused had written. It seems this was the retraction.

From 3 to 5:30 in the afternoon, Rizal read his prayer book several times, prayed kneeling
before the altar and in the company of Fathers Vilaclara and March, read the Acts of Faith,
Hope and Charity repeatedly as well as the Prayers for the Departing Soul.

At 6 in the afternoon the following persons arrived and entered the chapel; Teodora Alonzo,
mother of Rizal, and his sisters, Lucia, Maria, Olimpia, Josefa, Trinidad and Dolores. Embracing
them, the accused bade them farewell with great strength of character and without shedding a
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 61
 tear. The mother of Rizal left the chapel weeping and carrying two bundles of several utensils
belonging to her son who had used them while in prison.

A little after 8 in the evening, at the urgings of Señor Andrade, the accused was served a plate
of tinola, his last meal on earth. The Assistant of the Plaza, Señor Maure and Fathers March and
Vilaclara visited him at 9 in the evening. He rested until 4 in the morning and again resumed
praying before the altar.

At 5 this morning of the 30th, the lover of Rizal arrived at the prison accompanied by his sister
Pilar, both dressed in mourning. Only the former entered the chapel, followed by a military
chaplain whose name I cannot ascertain. Donning his formal clothes and aided by a soldier of
the artillery, the nuptials of Rizal and the woman who had been his lover were performed at the
point of death (in articulo mortis). After embracing him she left, flooded with tears.

Rizal heard mass and confessed to Father March. Afterwards he heard another mass where he
received communion. At 7:30, a European artilleryman handcuffed him and he left for the place
of execution accompanied by various Jesuits, his counsel and the Assistant of the Plaza. Father
March gave him a holy picture of the Virgin that Rizal kissed repeatedly.

When the accused left, I noticed he was very pale but I am very certain that all the time he was
imprisoned he demonstrated great strength of character and composure.

God grant Your Excellency.

Manila 30 December 1896.
Chief Inspector Federico Moreno (Harper 1997)

This controversial piece of paper elicits more questions than answers, more than a century after Rizal’s
death, is merely a reflection of the changing image of Rizal over time, as well as changing attitudes
Filipinos have toward the father of the nation. The question of Rizal’s retraction is a search for the
elusive truth. Filipinos may not find this truth in time, but the search for truth is essential for the
writing of our national history.

It is unfortunate that history can often be confused and confusing. Depending on which source you are
reading, you can make Rizal speak for either side of any coin. That may very well be the secret of his
relevance.

Learning Activity:
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 62
ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.
1. In your opinion, do you think that Rizal would ever make retraction statements?
2. Which do you think of these accounts are valid?
3. Hypothetically Rizal retracted, how it would affect the history of the Philippines?
References:

 Escalante, Rene. (2019). Did Jose Rizal die a catholic? Revisiting Rizal’s last 24 hours using spy
reports. Southeast Asian Studies Vol. 3, No. 3. DOI: 10.20495/seas.8.3_369.
 https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2019/12/vol-8-no-3-rene-escalante/. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
 REX Book Store, Inc.
 Ocampo, Ambeth, R.; 2018; Rizal without the Overcoat; Mandaluyong City; Anvil Publishiong,
Inc.

LESSON 4.5: The Cry of Rebellion

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 63
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Identify where and when the Cry of Rebellion happened

  Formulate an arguments about the Cry of Rebellion
 Discuss the different accounts of the cry

Introduction
The Philippine revolution began in the hills of Balintawak on August 26, 1896 as a Katipunan revolt of
Tagalog masses under Supremo Andres Bonifacio, which failed largely because of Banifacio’s
successive defeats due to his military incompetency.

The Cry of Balintawak

Source: Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh St., Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co.,
Inc.

On August 19, 1896, a tragic discovery of the Katipunan occurred. Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, and
many Katipuneros from Manila, had to elude the dragnet of Spanish Law and flee to Caloocan
and its neighbouring barrios. On August 26, Bonifacio rallied the Katipuneros to an emergency
meeting in Balintawak (a barrio of Caloocan). The Katipuneros were poorly-armed with bolos,
bamboo spears, anting-anting, paltik (crude
homemade guns), and a few old Remington
rifles.

The meeting started in good order. Supremo

Bonifacio welcomed the attendance of the
patriots and informed them of the urgency
of beginning the revolution in view of the
discovery of their secret society.

Some Katipuneros (including his brother-in-law Teodoro Plata) objected because of the lack of
arms and their unpreparedness for war. Their opposition produced a heated debate between
those who favoured the uprising and the oppositionists, thus plunging the meeting into turmoil.
Angered by the raging debate among his men, Bonifacio thundered:

“Brother, you know the tragic fate of our compatriots who fell into the clutches of the Spaniards.
We are doomed men, we cannot return to our homes, for we would be arrested and executed.
Now what shall we do?”

“Fight!” shouted the majority of the patriots. Bonifacio then dramatically took out his cedula
certificate (symbol of vassalage to Spain), tore it to pieces and shouted “Long live the
Philippines!” following his examples, the Katipuneros tore their cedula certificates, echoing the
cry.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 64

The stirring episodes had become a cherished tradition of the nation, like the fall of the Bastille in
France (July 14, 1789), the battle of Bunker Hill in the United States (June 16, 1775), and the “Cry of
Dolores” in Mexico (September 15, 1810).
The Cry of Pugad Lawin (Pio Valenzuela Perspective)
Source: Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila: REX Book Store, Inc.

The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata,
Aguedo Del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving there on August 19, and I,
on August 20, 1896. The first place where some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August
22, 1896, was the house and yard of Apolinio Samson at Kangkong. Aside from the person
mentioned above, among those who were Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo,
Apolonio Samson, and others. Here, views were only exchanged, and no resolution was
debated or adopted. It was at Pugad Lawin, the house, store-house, and yard of Juan Ramos,
son of Melchora Aquino, were over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met and carried out
considerable debate and discussion on August 23, 1896. The discussion was on whether or not
the revolution against the Spanish government should be started on August 29, 1896…After the
tumultuous meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted “Long
Live the Philippines! Long Live the Philippines!”

Looking all the places where they claim the exact place where the cry of rebellion took place is still a
foregoing controversy. Settling this would consume our time. Through this we could only realize how
fossilized history can be. Learning history is far too important to be entrusted to academics. History
is part of our birthright. We must claim it back and make it transform our lives.

Academics have been debating Pugad Lawin since the 1950s. However, it
seems that the evidence weighs heavily in favour of Balintawak. Dr.
Soledad Borromeo-Buehler in her paper, History as illusion: Cry of
Balintawak not Pugad Lawin, clearly outlined why we should return from
the official Pugad Lawin to the traditional Balintawak. One of her reason is
that, “the name Pugad Lawin does not appear in contemporary accounts
of the revolution, nor in the censuses of 1903, 1908, municipal records of
Caloocan, nor on pertinent maps of that town.”

If we are to look, other places that said to be the place where the cry of
rebellion took place as such, Kangkong, Pasong Tamo, and Bahay Toro were
all within the jurisdiction of Balintawak. On the other hand, Pugad Lawin
was rather problematic, because it was near Balara and quite a distance
from Balintawak. However, the solution was simple, since there were no clear-cut land boundaries in
the Spanish period and Balintawak was part of Kaloocan, can’t we then resolve the issue by declaring it
the Cry of Kaloocan and make everyone happy? Remember that in the past century, Diliman and thus,
Pugad Lawin were part of greater Balintawak or an even greater Kaloocan. Don’t you think “Cry of
Caloocan” has a nice alternative ring to it?

When did the revolution truly begin? Not with the “cry,” not with the meeting that ended with the
tearing of cedulas. We can peg the beginning of the revolution to the very first encounter between the
Katipuneros and the Guardia Civil in Balintawak on August 26, 1896. For the moment, let us leave
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 65
things at that and proceed to other matters. It is the significance of the event rather than the date and
place that makes Balintawak, August 26, 1896 a landmark in our history.

Learning Activity:
ESSAY. Discuss the your answer briefly.
1. Which of the two places do consider a place where the Cry of Rebellion happened? Why?
2. Is there a chance that all of the sources are valid?
References:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

 Ocampo, Ambeth, R.; 2014; Bones of Contention: The Andres Bonifacio Lectures;
 Mandaluyong City; Anvil Publishing Inc.
 Zaide, Sonia M.; 2013; The Philippines: A Unique Nation; Zaide House, 24 Pittsburgh
St., Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 66

 CHAPTER 5

Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Issues in

Philippine History

This Chapter is dedicated to the enduring issues in Philippine society, which by studying history will
give us ray of hope in understanding those issues that have evolve over the course of historical
timeline, and could potentially uncover possible solution to those issues. These lessons includes the
evolution of Philippine constitution, policies of Agrarian Reform, and evolution of Philippine taxation.
These discussions are issues that we hope be helpful in proposing recommendations and solutions to
the present day problems of the Philippines. Through learning all of the discussion student will come
up with the idea of shaping critical analysis on those issues.

LESSON 5.1: Evolution of Philippine Constitution

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Discuss the changes of the Philippine constitution

  Explain the importance of a constitution in a nation
 Identify enduring issues during the evolution of Philippine constitution.

Introduction
The vast majority of contemporary constitutions describe the basic principles of the state, the
structures and processes of government and the fundamental rights of citizens in a higher law that
cannot be unilaterally changed by an ordinary legislative act. This higher law is usually referred to as a
constitution. The content and nature of a particular constitution, as well as how it relates to the rest of
the legal and political order, varies considerably between countries, and there is no universal and
uncontested definition of a constitution. The Constitution, whether written or unwritten is recognized
as the supreme law of the land as it serves as the basis for the legitimacy of any governmental acts
necessary for its existence.

In the Philippines, the constitution had been effect since 1987. There are only three constitutions that
have effectively governed the country – the 1935 Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 constitution,
and the 1986 Freedom Constitution.
However, there were earlier constitutions
attempted by Filipinos in the struggle to break
free from the colonial regime.
The Biak-na Bato Republic
https://www.philippine-history.org/biak-na-bato.htm
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 67
In July 1897, Aguinaldo established the Biak-na-Bato Republic and issued a proclamation stating the
following demands:

  Expulsion of the friars and the return of the friar lands to the Filipinos
 Representation of the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes
  Freedom of the press and of religion
 Abolition of the government’s power to banish Filipinos
 Equality for all before the law.

A charter based on the Cuban Constitution was also drafted by Felix Ferrer and Isabelo Artacho. It was
signed on November 1, 1897. The Biak-na-Bato Constitution provided for the establishment of a
Supreme council that would serve as the highest governing body of the Republic. It also outlined
certain basic human rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the right to
education.
The government that was established in Biak-na-Bato was the first constitutional republican government in
“Filipinas.” Although its Constitution was provisional, its preamble stated:

“The separation of Filipinas from the Spanish monarchy and its establishment as an independent
and sovereign state with the name Republica de Filipinas, with its own government, is the goal
sought by the revolution that began in August 1896.”

The day after the Constitution was signed, the assembly met and elected the supreme council. Those
elected were Emilio Aguinaldo, President; Mariano Trias, Vice President; Isabelo Artacho, Secretary of
the Interior; Antonio Montenegro, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; Baldomero Aguinaldo, Secretary of
Treasury; and Emiliano Riego de Dios, Secretary of War.

Fidel Ramos on his speech have said:

“Modern constitutionalists will easily discover flaws in the Biak-na-Bato Constitution. The flaws will be
seen mostly in the form of omissions or incompleteness. Modem Filipinos want their Constitution to
cover most exigencies and details, mainly out of a distrust of their leaders, a distrust owed to martial-
law experience. The redeeming virtue of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution was that the handful of men
who promulgated it took care that it would be provisional or temporary.

This was the decision of men over whom the people had no means of control or direct influence, whose
authority came from abnormal and extra constitutional conditions, but who fixed their authority to two
years, leaving it to the representatives to interpret the people’s verdict. On the whole, the Biak-na-Bato
scheme was an approach to leadership that moderated the government’s authoritarian origins by self-
imposed limitations, characterized by grace and conscientiousness of genuine patriotism. In the light of
recent events, it would be wise for us to re-examine our national aspirations in relation to our goals as a
nation. Just as our forefathers did one hundred years ago, so now today, must we carefully and
thoughtfully weigh the consequences of our actions and their benefits to our people.”

The Pact of Biak-na-Bato

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 68

Pedro Paterno, a Spaniard born in the Philippines volunteered to act as negotiator between Aguinaldo
and Gov. Primo de Rivera Pact of Biak-na-Bato with Pedro Paterno and Emilio Aguinaldoin order to end
the clashes. Paterno’s effort paid off when on, December 15, 1897, the Pact he sign the Pact as the
representative of the revolutionaries, and de Rivera as the representative of the Spanish government.
The Leaders are: Emilio Aguinaldo-President, Mariano Trias-Vice President, Antonio Montenegro-
Secretary, Baldomero Aguinaldo-Treasurer, and Emilio Riego de Dios.

On December 23, 1897, Generals Celestino Tejero and Ricardo Monet of the Spanish army arrived in
Biak-na-Bato and became hostages of the rebels. A ceasefire was declared by both camps and an
agreement between Aguinaldo and the Spanish forces was made -that the Spanish government will
grant self-rule to the Philippines in 3 years if Aguinaldo went to exile and surrender his arms. In
exchange, Aguinaldo will receive P800, 000 (Mexican Pesos) as remuneration to the revolutionaries
and an amnesty. After receiving a partial payment of P400, 000, Aguinaldo left for Hong Kong on
December 27, 1897. Some Filipino generals, however, did not believe in the sincerity of the Spaniards.
They refused to surrender their arms. Nevertheless, the Te Deum was still sung on January 23, 1898.
The Biak-na-Bato Pact Fails

The Filipino’s and the Spaniards did not trust each other. As a result, periodic clashes between the two
groups still took place even after Aguinaldo’s departure from the country. The Spanish did not pay the
entire agreed amount. Continue to The Spanish-American War.
The Malolos Constitution
Source: Zaide, Sonia, M.; 2013; the Philippines: A Unique Nation; Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc. Retrieved March 3, 2021

After signing of the truce, the Filipino revolutionary leaders accepted a payment from Spain and went
to exile in Hong Kong. On September 15, 1898, the Malolos Congress was inaugurated at the Barasoain
Church, Malolos, Bulacan. Among the achievement of Malolos Congress were, the ratification of
Philippine independence, the floating of a domestic loan of P20, 000,000, redeemable in 40 years after
the date of issue, the promulgation of the Malolos Constitution.

The committee to draft the Constitution was composed

of 19 members, namely, felipe G. Calderon (chairman),
Higinio Benitez, Mariano Abella, Jose Albert, Jose
Alejandro, Alberto Barreto, Felipe Buencamino, Joaquin
Gonzales, Antonio Luna, Jose Luna, Arsenio Cruz
Herrera, Juan Manday, Pedro Ocampo, Tomas G. Del
Rosario, Basilio Teodoro, Aguedo Velarde, Gregorio
Araneta, Hipolito Magsalin, and Jose Ma. De la Vina. It
studied the three constitutional drafts submitted to it – the Mabini Plan, Paterno Plan, and the
Calderon Plan.

The Mabini plan was the Constitutional Programme of the Philippine Republic. The Paterno Plan was
based on the Spanish Constitution of 1868. The Calderon plan was a constitution written by Calderon,
noted lawyer and social scientist, based on the constitutions of France, Belgium, Mexico, Costa Rica,

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 69

Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Brazil. After a thorough examination, the Committee chose the Calderon
Plan as the best and submitted it to the Malolos Congress for approval.

On November 29, 1898, the Malolos Constitution was approved by the members of the congress and
then forwarded to President Aguinaldo for his approval. On January 3, 1899, President Aguinaldo’s
message was read to the congress. Evidently written by Mabini who was hostile to the Calderon draft,
the message expressed reluctance to approve the draft, unless certain amendments were included.

The members of the congress angrily spurned the request for amendments, and for almost a month,
the congress, led by Calderon, waged a cold war with Aguinaldo and Mabini. Fortunately, cooler heads
prevailed, and a compromise was advised.

On January 21, 1899, President Aguinaldo finally proclaimed the Malolos Constitution as the
Fundamental law of the land.

Examining 1899 Constitution

The constitution opened with a preamble reading:

"We the Representatives of the Filipino People, lawfully convened, in order to establish
justice, provide for common defence, promote the general welfare and insure the benefits of
liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of
these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following political constitution ".

The constitution then organized a Filipino state called the Philippine Republic, sovereignty residing
exclusively in the people. The national and individual rights of Filipinos and aliens were next
specified. These provisions are, in the main, literal copies of articles of the Spanish constitution. The
bill of rights included -religious liberty; freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, a provision
like that of Spain; recognition of what amounts to the writ of habeas corpus; sanctity of domicile;
prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures; right to choose one's domicile; inviolability of
correspondence; prohibition of criminal prosecutions unless in a competent court and according to
law; protection of private property, reserving to the government the right of eminent domain;
inhibition against the payment of any tax not legally prescribed; freedom of speech and press; right
to form associations; right to petition; permission to establish educational institutions: compulsory
and free popular education; right of expatriation; prohibition of trial under special laws or by special
tribunals; prohibition against laws of primogeniture and the entailment of property; prohibition of
acceptance of titles of honor or nobility from foreign nations without authorization of the
government and of the granting of such honors by the Republic.

The constitution also provided (article 28) that “the enumeration of the rights granted in this title
does not imply the prohibition of any others not expressly stated.” On every Filipino there was
imposed the obligation of defending the country and of contributing to the expenses of the state
consisting of three independent powers called the legislative, the executive and the judicial.
Profiting by prior experience, the Church and the State were made separate.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 70

Not to attempt to incite commentaries on a constitution which was never in force, there are certain
unique and out- standing features therein which should at least be mentioned. Among these are the
establishment of the unicameral system; the permanent commission; ministerial responsibility; central
intervention in local administration; the taking of the properties of the religious orders; and the
dominance of the legislative power. Reasons of local character caused the inclusion of such provisions.
If one wished, most could be justified on broader grounds. Thus, the unicameral system, which is more
natural than accidental, and which has found advocates in such countries as Greece, Rome, England,
and France, has its mer- its. The legislative commission, still to be found in certain modern
constitutions, gives continually to government, and is greatly to be commended. Ministerial
responsibility, resulting in the bringing of the executive and legislative powers into close unison, and to
increased governmental efficiency, is to be found in almost every advanced country excepting the
United States.

The central and all-pervading idea of the constitution was to insure the predominance of the
legislature. This is explained by Calderon in the following words:

“While I proclaimed the principle of the separation of powers, I conferred upon the legislature
such ample powers in the constitution that in reality it had the power of supervision over the
executive and judicial branches; and in order to make this supervision more effective, in
imitation of the constitution of Costa Rica, I established what is known as the Permanent
Commission, i.e., a committee composed of members of Congress who are to assume all the
powers of the same while not in session, with sufficient powers to adopt any urgent measures in
case of emergency; in a word, it can be said that the Congress of the republic was the supreme
power (poderomnimodo) in the whole nation. . . . Having in mind that, should we become
independent, we would have for a long time an oligarchical republic in which the military
element, which is ignorant as a whole, would predominate, in order to check this oligarchy, I
preferred to neutralize it by an intellectual oligarchy, since Congress was composed of the most
intellectual classes of our country. This is the reason why I conferred upon the legislature such
ample powers, not only in the field of legislation but also in the supervision of the executive and
judicial branches. In a word, between the two oligarchies, I preferred the intellectual oligarchy
of the many to the ignorant oligarchy.”

The Malolos Constitution, consequently, is now principally of academic interest, as a phase in

Philippine constitutional development, and as an indication of a Filipino conception of democratic
institutions. In doing justice to the Malolos Constitution one need not agree with the fulsome eulogy
accorded to its framers by even so eminent an authority as Senator Hoar, who said, "there are not ten
men on the planet who could have made one better ". It should always be remembered, in judging its
merits and demerits, which it was intended to be provisional, was drafted by men inexperienced in
grave constitutional problems, and was flung together in a time of storm and stress. Moreover, in
order to do the constitution justice, it should also be recalled that many provisions which to the
American observer seem strange, to the Filipino were natural and fitting. After all, the constitution did
conform on many of the tests of a good constitution, and it is to be presumed that it did faithfully
portray the aspirations and political ideals of the people.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 71

With all the effort of those intellectual people involve in crafting the constitution have put in vague
since the 1899 Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing war. The Philippines was
effectively a territory of the United States upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Spain and
the United States, transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on December 10, 1898.

The 1935 Commonwealth Constitution

The next stage in the political development of the Filipinos was the establishment of the
Commonwealth Government of the Philippines pursuant to an act of the United States Congress on
March 24, 1934, commonly known as the Tydings-McDuffie Law. The commonwealth status was a form
of government in transition toward independence. Among other things, the law provide for a transition
period of ten years during which the Philippine Commonwealth would operate and at the expiration of
said period on July 4, 1946, the independence of the Philippines would be proclaimed and established.

The new government of the Commonwealth of the

Philippines, deemed successor of the Government of the
Philippines Island, was inaugurated on November 15, 193,
following the first national election under 1935
Constitution held on September 12, 1935, with Manuel L.
Quezon and Sergio Osmena, as President and Vice-
President, respectively.
Examining 1935 Constitution
Source: retrieved March 4, 2021; https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/the-commonwealth-of-
the-philippines/

The Commonwealth was meant to lay down the foundations for an independent, fully-functional state.
Its priorities could be seen in the first laws enacted by the new National Assembly: Commonwealth Act
No.1 established the Philippine Army and a national defence policy; Commonwealth Act No. 2
established the National Economic Council; Commonwealth Act No. 3 created the Court of Appeals.
The 1935 Constitution was amended in 1940 to permit the re-election of the president and the vice
president, to restore the Senate and thus shift the legislature back to the bicameral system, and to
establish a national electoral authority, the Commission on Elections. The proposed amendments were
ratified in a plebiscite held on June 18, 1940.
The 1935 Constitution preamble state that:

“The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a government
that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the nation, promote the
general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings of independence
under a régime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain and promulgate this Constitution.”

The Commonwealth Constitution has never undergone a process of comprehensive, systemic reform.
Yet its institutions fail to give effect to fundamental constitutional theories such as accurate
representation of the will of voters, effective control by the legislature over the executive and
protection of individual rights. The federal system remains a feature of the Constitution despite its
enormous cost. Debate over the republic has failed to address the key issue of codification of the
reserve powers. Yet despite these flaws, constitutional reform appears unattainable, due in no small

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 72

part to the fact that the shortcomings in civics education leave voters ignorant of the constitution and
thus fearful of changing what they do not understand.

On the contrary, this constitution have specified and gave assurance to the Filipino people that the
American will give us a full independence. Thou, had a dominant influence on American constitution, it
also bears traces of Malolos Constitution, and other western constitution. Given to that, would it be
appropriate to the Philippines that they have crafted a constitution that matches more on the needs of
the republic rather than bearing more traces on the western constitution? This question will remain as
it is, what is important is that we have achieved the independence that we fought for centuries.
The 1973 Constitution of the Authoritarian Regime of Marcos

Since the Philippines achieved post-war independence in July 1946, there emerge a persistent
movement to change the Constitution of 1935. In the light of the new situation, the constitution of
1935 was found to be anachronistic because it was no longer in harmony with the new conditions of
the times. Its defects became apparent, as follows:

1. It was a relic of colonialism, for it was drafted during the American regime and was an imitation
of the U.S Constitution;
2. Too much powers given to the President may spawn a dictator;
3. Imbalance among the three branches of government – legislative, executive, judicial;
4. Lack of a provision regarding presidential election protests;
5. Its parity amendments was a memento of American imperialism;
6. The COMELEC was not granted adequate powers to prevent election anomalies;
7. The GAO (General Auditing Office) was virtually a watchdog without teeth; and
8. It had no provision on local autonomy.

When Ferdinand Marcos was elected as President in 1965 after merely

two years of his term Philippine Congress passed a resolution calling for a
constitutional convention to change the 1935 constitution. Marcos
wanted the convention to either extend his term by two more years or to
change the form of government from presidential to parliamentary. If the
plan had succeeded, Marcos could have run as a member of parliament in
his home province and, as leader of the majority party, could have
assumed the role of Prime Minister.

This would have enabled Marcos to stay in power indefinitely, or at least

as long as his party controlled Congress. On June 1, 1971 the convention
began formally as President Carlos P. Garcia as an elected president of the
convention, unfortunately, he died, and was succeeded by another former president, Diosdado
Macapagal. However, Before the Commission could finish its work, Marcos placed the country under
martial law. He then pushed for the adoption of a new Constitution but "not through ratification
procedures laid down in either the old or the new Constitution."

Instead Marcos created People's Assemblies in every barrio, which were composed of all citizens over
15 years of age. These assemblies were convened and asked to vote on the Constitution, which was
presented without opposition. Under the martial law regime, there was no free press, there were no
civil liberties, and Marcos' opponents and political commentators were either in detention or exile.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 73

These assemblies carried out the adoption of the Constitution "where armed soldiers and policemen
were in prominent attendance."

The procedure for the ratification of the Constitution was

riddled with other problems. For example, the assemblies
were not limited to qualified and registered voters, and they
also included minors. Additionally, no official ballots were used
because voting was done by a show of hands, which violated
the principle of secrecy. The Commission on Elections took no
part in the exercise, so there were no regulations governing
tabulation and counting of the votes. There were even claims that these assemblies were never
convened and that the votes allegedly cast in these meetings were simply manufactured by Marcos'
people. Marcos also had clandestine meetings with some members of the Supreme Court even before
martial law was declared, and in the weeks before, the 1973 Constitution was ratified.
The Effect of the 1973 Constitution

In the 1973 Constitution, citizens were obliged to vote; and for the first time, the 18 to 20 year olds
and those who cannot read or write were allowed to vote. The “New Society” has demonstrated its
determination and courage to rid the government of the corrupt and the grafters—so does the 1973
Constitution provided for stiff sanctions against those who abuse their public office. Just as the New
Society has made it plain and clear that there will be no buck-passing among those who hold public
office, so too does the 1973 Constitution seek to ensure political and official accountability. In the old
order, which the New Society seeks to dismantle, the structure of the government was essentially
conducive to horse-trading and compromises.

The New Constitution joins this movement by adopting the parliamentary system of government to
ensure that the Prime Minister and Cabinet become responsible to the country and its people through
the National Assembly. However, this was not the outcome for all the ratification of the 1973
constitution. There were abused of power exercised by the executive body of the government. This
constitution have made the president to rule the country as much as he want under martial law. The
prime minister have shown no role since the president have control even the position of the prime
minister, that supposed to act as the commander in chief of the arm forces of the Philippines.
Everything has its end, the authoritarian regime of the Marcoses ended when people have come to
realized the oppressed situation the country have endured for 20 years, ended with the EDSA People’s
Power Revolution in 1986.
The 1987 Constitution – Freedom Constitution
Source: Atienza, Maria Ela, L.; 2019; Chronology of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; Quezon City; University of the Philippines. Retrieved March 4, 2021;
https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/chronology-of-the-1987-philippine-constitution.pdf

The 1986 Constitutional Commission was convened three months after the EDSA People Power.
Wilfrido V. Villacorta, Constitutional Commission member who also headed the Committee on Human
Resources, explained that since this peaceful upheaval was mainly an “anti-dictatorship revolution”
whose main objective was the overthrow of the martial law regime, its “ideology was not basically
against foreign domination nor did it champion the liberation of the lower classes, having been led by
the moderate middle forces” (Villacorta 1988, 301). Of course, the 1986 upheaval was merely a
crescendo of sustained protests against the dictatorship since the declaration of martial law in 1972, as

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 74

Constitutional Commission members Ponciano L. Bennagen, Edmundo Garcia, and Villacorta himself
highlighted (Bennagen 2018; Garcia 2018; Villacorta 1988, 301).

An assessment of the 1986 People Power, even if there is debate about whether to call it a
“revolution” or not, would be incomplete if only the middle forces would be given credit. At the
forefront of this anti-authoritarian movement were the so-called Leftists, the Democratic Socialists, the
Muslim Secessionists, and the fragmented political opposition. More mainstream groups joined this
movement after the assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino in 1983. Bennagen (2018) added that the
1987 Constitution did not originate solely from EDSA but the struggles of people against Marcos which
actually blurred the distinctions among Filipinos in terms of class, gender, etc.; those in the struggle,
for Bennagen, were all Filipinos belonging to “one family.”

Nevertheless, at the helm of the urban middle-class movement at EDSA were the political leaders who
consistently opposed the dictatorship. And according to Villacorta, the charisma of these luminaries sat
well with “the patron-client proclivities of the traditional political culture.” At EDSA, “the celebration
preceded the reason for it,” and this reflects “the native optimism of the Filipinos” (Villacorta 1988,
301).
Observing the 1987 Constitution

The 1987 Constitution is definitely a reaction to the country’s martial law experience. As Constitutional
Commission member Braid said, this reactionary nature may be criticized as a weakness but it is also its
strength; it reflects people’s frustrations about the past as well as aspirations for the future (Braid
2018). The themes of participatory democracy, social justice, and human rights permeate the whole
document.

Despite the appointive nature of the members of the Constitutional Commission and the fact that
members were elites and leaders in their own respective fields, members represented sectors that
would not have been represented had the selection process been open to elections by geographic
districts. Despite only four months of deliberations, the processes involved numerous provincial
hearings and diverse groups representing various interests were allowed to express themselves.
Ideological positions divided members of the Constitutional Commission on major issues. The
sovereignty of the nation became the topic of many fierce debates.

The members were divided into the conservative bloc and the much smaller progressive bloc. Studying
the dynamics and processes of constitution-making has exposed the role of class and vested interests
as well as some elitist tendencies. Commissioners were also influenced by both visible and subtler
lobby groups. However, despite criticisms, it would be wrong to say that the 1987 Constitution had no
positive features. The more sectoral bias of the members as well as the consciously embedded
participatory process led to very important provisions. It actually contains some innovative features
that can move the country forward “if genuinely implemented” and if the provisions are defended by
the people who have the political will to do so (Villacorta 1988, 308–309).

This include political leaders, various agencies, and personnel of government, as well as citizens who
are conscious of the principles and goals of the constitution as well as their own rights and interests.
This constitution enshrined the concepts of representative democracy and separation of powers by
establishing a presidential system; established independent constitutional commissions; promotes
local autonomy; and restored legislative and judicial powers vis-à-vis the presidency. It aspired to

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 75

prevent a repeat of the tyranny that the Philippines had lived under in the past by establishing
Presidential term limits, a bicameral Congress and Congressional approval over declarations of martial
law. Furthermore, the 1987 Constitution has an expanded Bill of Rights, offering protection for human
and civil rights as a result of the experiences under Marcos.

It has also laid the foundation for a comprehensive program for social justice and educational
development. The Philippine territory is required to be both ecologically safe and free from nuclear
weapons. The charter also delineated the duties of the military vis-à-vis the supreme civilian authority.
People’s participation is enshrined in both national (especially in the legislature) and local levels.
However, once a constitution is ratified, it is important to assess if the provisions have been
implemented, put into specific laws and defended by various sectors, whether the Constitution has
achieved its transformative goals, and if the provisions are still relevant to the values and culture of
Filipinos as well as the changing times and challenges.

Learning Activity:

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. What do you think is the reason of the revolution of the constitution?
2. In the present, Philippines is under the law of 1987 constitution. Duterte is calling of a
constitutional convention to ratify some provision. Do you agree or disagree. Plot your
argument and supply reasons based on what you have learn in the evolution of Philippine
constitution.
References:

 Zaide, Sonia, M.; 2013; the Philippines: A Unique Nation; Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing
 Co., Inc.
  Atienza, Maria Ela, L.; 2019; Chronology of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; Quezon City;
University of the Philippines. Retrieved March 4, 2021;
https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/chronology-of-the-1987-philippine-
constitution.pdf
 De Leon, Hector, S., De Leon, Hector, M., Jr., 2011; Philippine Constitution; Manila; REX Book
 Store.
 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.
  Gatmaytan-Mango, Dante; 2007; Changing Constitution: Judicial Review and Redemption in the
Philippines; University of Califonia; Changing Constitutions: Judicial Review and Redemption in
the Philippines (escholarship.org); Retrieved March 4, 2021.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/the-commonwealth-of-the-philippines/; retrieved March 3,
2021
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1997/11/02/; retrieved March 4, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/01/world/validity-of-marcos-s-73-constitution-is-
 challenged.html; retrieved March 4, 2021
 
 

 
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 76
 LESSON 5.2: Policies of Agrarian Reform

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Trace the history of the land reform program in the Philippine

  Discuss the salient features of each agrarian system
  Identify the consequences of decisions and events that happened in the past.
 Evaluate the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program

Introduction

Throughout the country’s history, agrarian reform in the Philippines has long been a combative issue
and often have involve form of instability and violence. Used mainly as a tool to garner grassroots
support, agrarian reforms was mainly a tool to have a support and foundation for the farmers, and was
institutionalize through setting regulations on the size of land and contracts.

Despite efforts to integrate the reforms to the markets, including the clustering of small hectares (ha)
of land into large corporate estates, the benefits of the Agrarian Reform Program remained elusive
under conservative demarcations set by regulations, including the definition of property rights,
transformation or maintenance of state structures and the contract limitations to be formed at the
production level. Land continues to be redistributed favorably to former landowner elites.

This study finds that inequality in land ownership persists as the institutions set de facto political
power to the elites. Under this condition, the equitable redistribution of land is an impossibility. In this
lesson, a discussion on policies that concern the agrarian reform throughout the history of the
Philippines, from the Spanish regime to the present state of the agrarian reform of the Philippines.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 77

Spanish Policies

Pueblo Agriculture

When the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, they brought with them the system of pueblo
agriculture, where rural communities, often dispersed and scattered in nature, were organized into
pueblo and given to cultivate. Each Christianise families were given four to five hectares of land to
cultivate. The pueblo agriculture practiced no share cropper class or landless class.

Although the family were given hectares of land to cultivate, they were merely landholders, not a
landowners. Since the Philippines was owned by the Spanish King, by law, those land were king’s
property, and they need to pay colonial tribute to the Spanish authorities in a form of agricultural
products.
Law of Indies

The numerous laws governing the colonies of Spain were compiled and published into a convenient
colonial code entitled Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias. Under this law the Spanish crown was
awarded vast tract of land to wit, as such:

  Friar lands for the religious orders;

 Repartimiento for lands granted to the Spanish military as a reward for their service; and

 Encomienda – a large tracts of land given to Spaniards (encomendero) to manage and have the
right to receive tributes from the natives tilling it. Natives within these areas became mere
tillers working for a share of crops. They did not even have any rights to the land.
Encomienda System

Encomienda was a grant of land to a particular conquered territory and a reward for the Spanish
colonizer for their services. In this system the encomendero (owner) was obliged by the law to
promote the welfare of the inhabitant. The duties were:
 To protect the inhabitants from enemies,
  To assist the missionaries in Christianizing them,
 To promote the education of the people.
There were two kinds of encomienda

 Royal – were exclusively owned by the king and they consisted of cities, seaports, and
 inhabitants of region rich in natural resources.
 Private – were owned by private persons or charitable institution, such as the College of Santa
Potenciana and the Hospital of San Juan de Dios.

This encomienda system in the Philippines was not a land grant. It was an administrative unit for the
purpose of extracting tribute from the natives. These tributes was an exchange for the service of the
encomendero, they were authorize to collect tributes of eight (8) reales annually. In the law,
encomendero was not supposed to exceed one-fourth of the total collection. However, abusive
encomenderos collected more tributes that became land rentals from the natives living in the area.
Hacienda System
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 78
The Philippines as a Spanish colony implemented policies that would mainstream the country into the
world of capitalism. The economy was opened to the world market as an exporter of raw materials and
importer of finished goods. The agricultural exports were mandated and the hacienda system was
developed as a new of ownership. More people lost their lands and were forced to become tillers.

It was in 1865 when the Spanish crown made a law ordering landholders to register their landholdings.
However, not all were aware and those who have registered benefited the order. Through this, many
ancestral lands were claimed and registered in other people’s name. As a result, many peasant families
were driven out from the lands they have been cultivating for centuries or forced to become tillers.
Laws required for the registration of Properties and Agricultural lands

 Ley Hipotecaria or Mortgage Law of 1893 – it provided a systematic registration of tittles and
deeds as well as ownership claims. This law was mainly a law on registration of properties
rather than a mortgage law.

 Maura Law or Royal Decree of 1894 – it was the last Spanish land law promulgated in the
Philippines. Farmers and landholders were given one year to register their agricultural lands to
avoid a declaration of it as a state property.
Encomienda and Hacienda

It is appropriate to differentiate between hacienda and encomienda. Though both of these systems
were forms of colonial appropriation, they were not the same and one did not necessarily lead to the
other.

The exploitative practices of the encomienda system were not based on land ownership. The exactions
of the encomenderos were incidental to their positions as representatives of the king. In the hacienda,
the exploitative relations were based on and grew out of the ownership by the landlord of the tracts of
land from which tenants derived their livelihood. By virtue of ownership of this land, the haciendero
has the right to inheritance and free disposition, two rights not covered by an encomienda grant. The
exploitation of the encomenderos was directed and undisguised.

They extracted tribute and drafted labor. The haciendero on the other hand disguised its exploitation
with the fiction of partnership, hence, the term “kasamahan” to denote a joint venture and to the
reference to the tenant as a kasamahan or companion. Moreover, whereas the amount of tribute was
fixed amount, the fiction of the joint undertaking is maintained in share-cropping in terms of a sharing
of risks. It may also be pointed out that tributaries generally regarded the tribute as an unwarranted
exaction but tenants until politicized the right of the haciendero to a lion’s share of their produce by
virtue of his ownership of the land.

All these policies were the very nature why Filipino revolts across the islands of the Philippines had
evolved. These policies discredited the communal ownership land of the indigenous Filipinos. It
became the source of anger and bitterness, it was apparent that exploitation of religious orders have
come to part and their abuses to the natives.

American Policies
At the beginning of the American regime, agriculture in the Philippines was in a deplorable state. Due
to the vast range of Philippine revolution, vast tracts of farming lands were laid to waste, huge
numbers of animals were gone, farm implements were destroyed, and agricultural production was put
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 79
to standstill. This make American regime faced a disheartening task to heal everything after the war for
Philippine independence and to rebuild the foundation of Philippine economy. In fact, the American
exert effort to revive and improve the agriculture sector of the Philippines.

In 1902, the first bureau was established to promote agriculture. Under Bureau of Agriculture,
experimental and model farms were established to teach people the scientific methods of cultivation.
They gradually examined plants and animal pests. In 1903, the United States Congress allocated a fund
of $3,000, 000 to help the Philippines due to serious economic crisis, pandemic, and drought.
Philippine Bill of 1902

This law provided regulations on the disposal of public lands wherein a private individual can own 16
hectares of land, while on the other hand, the corporate land holding can avail 1,024 hectares of land.
This same bill gave Americans a right to own an agricultural lands.
Torrens System

This was created for the remedy of the situation that native farmers were facing. During American
regime 400, 000 native farmers’ agricultural lands have no tittle – there was an absence of records on
issued tittle and accurate land surveys. With this system, it replaced registration system that was
implemented by the Spaniards. This was implemented through Land Registration Act of 1902 or Act.
No. 496, which placed all private and public lands under Torrens system. On the side is the Cadastral
Act or Act No. 2259, which speed up the issuance of Torrens tittle thru surveying the municipality and
presented the result of land registration court. Homestead Program of 1903 was a program that
allowed an enterprising tenant to acquire a farm of at least 16/24 hectares to cultivate.

There were other policies that the American have introduced for the Filipino farmers and landowners.
First Public Land or Act. No. 926, it provided rules and regulations for selling and leasing portions of
public domain, completing defective Spanish land tittles, and cancelling and confirming Spanish
concessions. Second Public Land Act of 1919 or Act 2874 that limits the use of agricultural lands to
Filipinos, Americans and citizens of other countries. The latter have amended as Act. No. 141 as a
temporary provision of equality on the rights of American and Filipino citizens and corporations. The
same act have compiled all pre-existing laws relative to public lands into a single instrument. There was
also Friar Land Act No. 1120 that provided the administrative and temporary leasing and selling of
friars’ lands to its tillers.

However, all of these policies have favoured the rich land owners and foreign corporations, especially
American interest. Although the Friar lands Act of 1904 offered more land for Filipino citizens, the
terms of the sale benefited rich landowners more than small farmers. Secondly, the American
procedure for the acquisition by landowners of Torrens tittles to their property displaced and
discourage small farmers who were too poor or ignorant to register their property. This was especially
a problem in indigenous people or non-Christian ethnic regions where land-grabbers claimed land to
which they had no ancestral right. Thirdly, the Homestead program of enabling Filipinos to acquire 24
hectares of public land for his family proved a failure. Without government assistance, poor farmers
could not take advantage of the homestead offer.

Evidently, the Americans continued to favour the Filipino landed elite and the landholding were only
concentrated in the hand of fewer individuals. Agricultural lands were undertaxed, and agricultural

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 80

products were exempted from taxes to encourage export of crop production. Rich hacienderos
enlarged their holdings and became the most stable allies of the American colonials.

When Quezon became the president of commonwealth government he laid down social justice
program focused on the purchase of hacienda, which were to be divided and sold to tenants. His
administration also created the National Rice and Corn Corporation (NARICC) to assign public
defenders to assist peasants in court battles for their rights to the land, and the Court of Industrial
Relations to exercise jurisdiction over disagreements arising from landowner-tenant relation. The
Homestead Program also continued, through the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA).
Efforts towards agrarian reform by the commonwealth failed because of many problems such as
budget allocation for the settlement program and widespread peasant uprisings. The commonwealth
government have not accomplished to any intervention to solve the problems of lands since the break
out of World War II and the Japanese occupation have hampered the policies.

Post-war Policies
The initiative for the land reform during the post war Philippine government have been broadly
influenced and in line with the initiative and ways of intervention take by President Manuel L. Quezon
under his administration from 1935-1941. The land reform initiatives by the successive administrations
of Manuel Roxas (1946- 48), Elpidio Quirino (1948-53), and Ramon Magsaysay (1954-56) generally fell
along with the policies that Quezon’s administration have crafted with their very own influence of
policies.

Under the term of President Quirino, the Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) was
established to accelerate and expand the resettlement program for the peasants. This agency was later
on became the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under the
administration of President Magsaysay.

There are series of land reform legislation Magsaysay administration have legislated, which some
considered as “the first significant legislation toward land reform in the post-war Philippines” (Wurfel
1988). These legislations were, The 1954 Agricultural Tenancy Act that limit land rent at 30%, placed an
interest rate cap of 8 –10% per annum, and increased tenants’ exceptions from creditors’ liens. The
1955 Land Reform Act, which gave compulsory land expropriation for rice lands but the retention limit
was set generously at 300 contiguous hectare for private lands planted with rice, 600 hectare for
corporate farms, and 1024 hectares for private farms other than rice (Takigawa 1976, Putzel 1992,
Riedinger 1995).
Agricultural Land Reform Code of 1963

The Land Reform Code of 1963 was the most comprehensive piece of legislation ever enacted in the
Philippines on the subject. It reorganized and strengthened land settlement, small farmer credit, the
dissemination of new agricultural technology, legal assistance to tenants and small farmers, and
created a structure for better coordination of all these functions, as well as dealing with land reform
more narrowly defined. A Land Authority was created to take over most of the activities of the LTA and
a Land Bank was established to handle the financial aspect of land acquisition (D. Wurfel).

These were the distinct feature that this code possessed, in comparison to the other land reform
initiatives, land reform was considered as a means to increase agricultural productivity, which, in turn,
was based on the need for supply of cheap food for urban consumers as well as the inefficient share
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 81
tenancy which was widespread among young economist-technocrats of the day. This attempt to
increased agricultural productivity by creating owner-cultivatorship, the Code stipulated a two-step
procedure for land redistribution:

 “Operation Leasehold,” which was to convert share tenancy to leasehold with the fixed rent at
 25 percent of the average harvest in the three normal years preceding the Operation, and
 “Operation Land Transfer,” where the government was to expropriate land in excess of the
retention limit of 75 hectares, with compensation to landowners of 10 percent of the land value
in cash and the rest in interest free Land Bank bonds, and then was to resell to tenants for
annual amortization payments within twenty five years. Such reforms were to apply only to
land planted with rice or corn.

Although this reform code have been seen as good land reform legislation, there were still limits as to
what the code can offer. An example is that, the reform Code covered only rice and corn land, which
excluding land planted with sugar, coconut, fruits and other crops. Thoroughly analysing the context of
the reform code, it simply meant that landowners could avoid land reform implementation as simple
as shifting their crop away from rice or corn. Another fault in design was that there was no sanctions
against evasion through transforming land use or transferring ownership to family members, which
were common means of sabotaging land reform implementation. Furthermore, the initial version of
the Code included progressive land tax, which was subsequently deleted in the final version. Indeed,
these limits generally persisted through the subsequent land reform codes (1971 and 1972) until the
enactment of CARP in 1988.

Agrarian Policies (Marcos to the Present)

In 1966, the year that Marcos took the office of the President the policies to reform land have followed
the previous initiatives of the former presidents of the republic, not until in the early 1970s where land
reform program have made a major advance. There were few reasons why Marcos needs to take a
step to passed legislation on reform program, however, this land reform was not of the president’s
initiative compared to the previous land reform program which was an initiative of the former
presidents. It was the Congress’ initiative for their heeded clamour for land reform. They have to made
legislation since there was protests, especially of the farmers which were supported by a highly
politicized students and workers’ movement in 1971, due to this demand and protest of the farmers
the Congress were pressured to the possible huge insurgence, and passed the Code of Agrarian Reform
(Republic Act No. 6389).

With the establishment of the Department of Agrarian Reform, it declared the entire Philippines a land
reform area (the 1963 Code, on the other hand, required that the National Land Reform Council should
first declare a given region to be covered by the program before actual implementation could proceed
in a given region), provided for the automatic conversion of tenancy to leasehold tenancy in all areas
and declared share tenancy illegal, included regulations on interest rates, on the sale of farm animals
and implements and on the conversion of agricultural land into other uses, and finally, reduced the
landlord retention limit from 75 hectares to 24 hectares (Fuwa, 2000).
Presidential Decree No. 27

In the early years of martial law agrarian reform was given great prominence. One month after its
declaration the President issued Presidential Decree No. 27 for “the emancipation of the tiller from the

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 82

bondage of the soil.” And on the first anniversary of P .D. 27 he went so far as to say: “land reform is
the only gauge for the success or failure of the New Society. If land reform fails, there is no New
Society. “

Under PD 27, all rice and corn fields over the lowered retention limit of 7 hectares were to be
transferred to the tenants who tilled them at a price 2.5 times the value of average annual production,
payable to the Land Bank at 6 percent interest within fifteen years. When the tenant completed
amortization she/he would be issued a land title, called “Emancipation Patent” (EP), transferable only
to her/his heirs; during the period of amortization the tenant would receive a “Certificate of Land
Transfer” identifying her/his cultivated area and promising her/him the right to purchase it.

On the other hand, land owners were to be paid 10 percent in cash and 90 percent in Land Bank bonds,
as was stipulated in the 1963 Code. Furthermore, under the “Operation Leasehold (OLH) Program,”
tenanted rice and corn fields under the 7 hectare retention limit were to be tilled under fixed rent
lease contract with the official rental ceiling of 25 percent of average output (net of costs for seeds,
harvesting, threshing, loading, hauling, and processing) for three ‘normal’ years prior to the reform
implementation (Fuwa, 2000).

However, though PD No. 27 have seen as a great improvement in land reform program there were still
limitations that this decree uphold and be seen on the previous laws on land reform program. PD No.
27 stipulated the following:

 the land must already have been in agricultural production by 1972, thereby excluding new
agricultural land which subsequently amounted to 1.24 million hectares between 1971 and
 1980,
 land reform was limited to rice and corn fields which amounted to about 4 million hectare as of
1972 while excluding its application to 2.5 million hectares of coconut and sugar lands (as of
 1972), and
 The decree applied only to tenanted areas, which represented about 24 percent of all rice and
corn areas, excluding landless laborers and subtenants amounting to 3.5 million in 1975.

As so designed, PD 27 would cover about 12 percent of the total Philippine farm area as of 1972
(Hayami, et. al. 1990, Mangahas 1985, Balisacan 1990). In addition, with this form of design, it just
provided landowners covered by the decree with opportunities to avoid its implementation through
shifting to crops other than rice or corn (or to non-agricultural use), or landowners may remove
tenants, replacing them with hired labor and undertaking direct management of the farm operation.
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) under Aquino Presidency

President Corazon Aquino assumed her presidency after Marcos was removed from his office. There
were numbers of reform programs that were legislated to solve decades of problem on the agricultural
sector, with the coming of Aquino there were heightened expectations toward a more comprehensive
land reform program than any previous land reform initiatives, people have high expectation on the
design of president’s initiative on land reform. To start everything they have paced everything and
crafted new form of constitution, the 1986 Philippine Constitution (and later supported by plebiscite in
February 1987). This new constitution have mandated a ‘comprehensive’ land reform that covers all
agricultural lands and natural resources (thus going beyond rice and corn lands under PD27) and both

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 83

tenants and regular farm workers (who had been excluded as beneficiaries in the previous reform
Codes).

At the same time, however, many of the crucial aspects of the defining characteristics of the reform
were left with the Congress to determine, including:
 the retention limits, to be set according to “ecological, developmental, and equity
 considerations;”
 types of exempted lands; and
 Phasing and time table of the program. 
In this Constitution it also included various alternative measures to land redistribution, such as
voluntary land sharing, and it allowed private corporations to lease up to 1000 hectares (while local
citizens 500 hectares) of public lands. The Aquino administration issued Executive Order 229, this EO
was mostly focused on procedural matters and, once again, left many of the critical aspects of land
reform, including retention limits and priority setting or phasing, to the Congress.

To address the problem on land reform programs and land issues in the Philippines, before her term in
office, President Aquino had committed herself to make land reform as an essential part of her
administration and had promised to address her family’s own landholdings, Hacienda Luisita. Under
her governance, a land reform commission was formed, and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law
(CARL or R.A. 6657), with its implementing program the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program
(CARP) was enacted in 1988.

It give and enabled an opportunity for farmers to own a land in a manner of redistribution of
agricultural lands from landowners, those landowners were paid in exchange by the government
through just compensation, and allowed them to retain not more than five hectares. However,
corporate landowners were allowed under law to voluntarily divest a proportion of their capital stock,
equity, or participation in favour of their workers or other qualified beneficiaries instead of turning
over their land to the government.

It is indeed a fact that the ownership and control over private agricultural lands in the country were
largely monopolized by landed classes; although, only about one-third of these farmlands were
reported in official census as privately owned by 1988 (Putzel, 1992). The lack of control over land
resources was believed to be one of the most important causes of persistent poverty in the country.
The exploitative agrarian structure had been the cause and effect of the lop-sided distribution of
political power in society and the state (Putzel, 1992: 30). The same situation provoked periodic
peasant upheavals that won only intermittent concessions from the state (Rutten, 2000).

A combination of repression, resettlement, and limited reform had been the traditional way through
which the elites and the state responded to peasant upheavals (Riedinger, 1995), and so peasant
unrest remained an important part of rural politics throughout the twentieth century. And, as Franco
(2001) explains, the transition from an authoritarian regime to a national clientelist electoral regime in
1986 did not lead to complete democratization of the countryside.

After the Martial Law during Marcos’ dictatorship, the transition period (1986–88) opened new
political opportunities for partial democratization, which led to a heated policy debate on agrarian
reform. After initially dragging its feet on the issue, the administration of Corazon Aquino was forced to
act after the military opened fire to a 20,000-strong peasant march near the Presidential Palace, killing

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 84

13 peasants; this subsequently stirred up the highly contested land reform programs in the Philippine
polity that resulted in the passage of CARL (Franco, 2001). It was a bloody transition for the peasants
who viewed themselves as victims of injustices for centuries. In addition, the majority of the members
in the legislation of CARL were connected to landed interests, if not owners of large tracks of farms. At
the time of deliberation of the CARL, the landlords dominated the House of Representatives and the
Senate mainly consisted of urban-based businessmen who regarded agrarian reform essential for the
development of the country (Bello, 2004). Here we can see that no matter how hard those farmers and
tillers voice their interest and problems to the government, those political members of the
administration will only make programs that will only benefit their own interest, in support that for six
years of Aquino Administration CARP have only accomplished 22.5% of land distribution.

When Fidel V. Ramos took over the presidency from Aquino, he supported her land reform program by
providing the necessary budget for its continued operations. In his presidency, he signed into law
Republic Act. No. 8532 that extended the implementation of CARP until 1998. Under Ramos’
governance, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) have only distributed 58.25% of the total area
target to be covered by the program. During this regime and the subsequent administration of Estrada
(who stayed in power as president for less than three years only), there were less agrarian related
issues.

Rural unrest has gone down as peasants have found their legal way through the CARL induced land
reform courts. Disputes between landowners and peasants are adjudicated in these courts. The DAR
(2005) reported that under the agrarian justice component from 1988 to 2004, a total 462,839 cases
were filed of which 445,652 were solved. This justice component entails the settlement of cases, which
are related to landlord and tenant relationships. It also deals with cases pertaining to land valuation.
From this figure, more than 17,000 cases remain unsolved during the same period (DAR, 2005).

This figure shows tremendous legal debacles between government, landlords and peasants, with the
latter facing long deprivation of the ―promised land. This connotes that in the end, it is the peasants
who are sacrificed in the legal delaying tactics. These cases are brought to DAR adjudication board and
regular courts. The government is in lock up position given the many adjudication and court
proceedings involved and the unyielding attitude of landowners.

Obviously, landlords and corporate owners were employing delaying tactics in the inclusion of their
farms for immediate implementation. At the same time, the government is rather preoccupied with
relatively smaller lands for reform inclusion. What is remarkable as far as the policy program of Ramos
is the passage of RA 8532 which extended the land reform program for another ten years (1998-2008)
and the provision of more public funds to support its implementation amounting to P50 billion (US$
909.09 million). As for Estrada‘s regime, he initiated the passage of Executive Order 151 that allowed
farmers to access long-term capital from the formal lending institutions (Elvinia).

President Gloria Arroyo continued and committed herself in the CARP implementation. Her
administration formulated and implemented CARP related programs, like the KALAHI ARZone. These
zones consisted of one or more municipalities with concentration of ARC population to achieve greater
agro-productivity. One significant observation during Arroyo‘s administration is that CARP was
supposed to end in 2008, where all targeted lands for distribution would have been accomplished, and
the work of agencies concerned this time would be limited to support services by assisting farmers in
their farm operations. Because of bureaucratic slowness, the total percentage of accomplishment was
recorded at around 80 percent against the total land for redistribution. Without other alternative,
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 85
Arroyo and her allies in congress extended the program. The year 2009 saw the passage of Republic
Act 9700, otherwise known as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms
(CARPer) Bill. The CARPer Bill provides for additional funding of P150 billion (US$ 300 million) over the
next five years. By 2014, it is projected that the total land distributed by DAR will be 5.166 million
hectares of the total to 3 million farmers. This funding figures the costly land reform in the Philippine
history (Elvinia).

For centuries of land reform program in the Philippines it did not give full accomplishment to give
farmers a way better living condition, form different eras their agrarian reform program possessed
serious deficiencies to succeed as an agenda on poverty reduction. We have witnessed that we cannot
split up the personal interest of landlords from landless poor‘s interest in any land reform laws and
programs in the country.

Land reform has been a polity reality, and the politics played a significant role on the various policies
and programs in each regime. It is obviously deficient in many aspects as different reform laws have
been debated and passed by legislators with vested interests detrimental to the reform‘s success. In
comparison, if those land reform program have succeed we can see its effect to the condition of our
farmers up to today. Until recently, our farmers are still struggling and waiting for the full support and
assistance from our government. Issues and problems on landholding have been an issue up until now.
If we are to compare farmers of like America, New Zealand, and America, ours remain poor whereas
theirs become richer.

Learning Activity:

Requirements:

1. Research on your municipality’s resolution/programs regarding agriculture or related to land

reform program. In your discussion include the following:
 How does it affect the lives of the local famers
  What are the programs that supports the livelihood of the farmers
 What are the significance of those programs in the living conditions of the farmers
 Who made those programs possible, and who supports those program

After your research, interview some farmers that benefited the programs, and ask the following
questions:
1. What kind of program/s that municipality have organized to help you?
2. How did you benefit such program/s?
3. What are the changes on your life as a farmer after that program have been into effect?
4. Do you own the land that you are cultivating? If yes, do you have a land tittle for the
land you are cultivating? If no, who owns the land and what are the agreement
regarding leasing or share of crops? How much is the lease (if you are a tenant)?
5. Do you feel the effect of different land reform programs in the country? How would you
rate government’s support on the local farmers? One is the lowest and ten is the highest.
Why your rate is in that degree?
References:
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 86
  Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
 REX Book Store, Inc.
 Zaide, Sonia, M.; 2013; the Philippines: A Unique Nation; Quezon City; All-Nations Publishing
 Co., Inc.
Fuwa, Nobuhiko; 2000; Politics and Economics of Land Reform in the Philippines: A Survey;
Chiba University; https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/23394/; Retrieved March 8, 2021.
 Wong, Susan E. 1989. The Making of the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. Manila:
 Ateneo de Manila University Press
 Wurfel, David. 1989. Land Reform: Contexts, Accomplishments and Prospects under Marcos and
 Aquino. In Land Reforms, Lawrence, Kan. USA: University of Kansas.
Jose Elvinia; Is Land Reform a Failure in the Philippines? An Assessment on CARP;
https://nagoya.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=13977&i
 tem_no=1&attribute_id=17&file_no=1; retrieved March 8, 2021.
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LESSON 5.3: Evolution of Philippine Taxation

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Identify the local and national taxes
  Argue for or against a current taxation issue
 Explain the importance of taxes in a nation

Introduction

Spanish Era

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Contador de Resultas served as the Chief Royal Accountant
whose functions were similar to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. He was the Chief Arbitrator
whose decisions on financial matters were final except when revoked by the Council of Indies. During
these times, taxes that were collected from the inhabitants varied from tribute or head tax of one gold
maiz annually; tax on the value of jewellery and gold trinkets; indirect taxes on tobacco, wine, cockpits,
burlas, and powder. From 1521 to 1821, the Spanish treasury had to subsidize the Philippines in the
amount of P 250,000.00 per annum due to the poor financial condition of the country, which can be
primarily attributed to the poor revenue collection system. Other forms of taxes from the Spanish Era
was the tributo, which was originally between 8 to 10 reales. Forced labor, or polo y servicio, was also
a network for tax payment. Eventually, with the cedula, Spain replaced tributo with cedula, which
allowed
 them to keep track of the people who could pay taxes.

 
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 87
The encomienda system, which was a land ownership granted by the Crown to worthy peninsulares,
was yet another form of tax income from the Filipinos. The diezmos prediales is 1/10 of the produce of
the encomienda to be paid to the vice regal government, and the sanctorum was the tax paid to the
local church. Other local taxes were the vinta, tax paid by people in the provinces along the coast of
Western Luzon to defend the area against Muslim pirates common at the time, and the donativo de
Zamboanga, was taxed specifically used for the conquest of Jolo. Listed below is a sample of a Filipino’s
tax during the Spanish occupation:
Tributo (encomienda tax): 10 reales
Diezmos prediales (government tax): 1 real
Commission on Internal Revenue: 1 real
Sanctorum: 3 reales
The Tax Reform of 1884

This reform modified markedly the system of taxation in the Philippines. It did away, in the first place,
with the old tribute tax, replacing it with the Cedula Personal Tax. In the second placed, it reduced the
numbers of days for the polos y servicios (personal services) from 40-15. If someone were not able to
present their cedula to a guardia civil they will be imprisoned for being “indocumentado”, which means
that they lack valid document or legal personal identification necessary to prove their identity.
The following taxes can be distinguished during the Spanish regime:
Direct taxes

One of the earliest of all the levies of the Spanish kings upon their colonial subjects was the tribute
(Priestly, 1916, p. 322), originally a vassalage payment. As Plehn pointed out: 'The tribute was a
personal tax of the nature of a uniform poll tax and was the only tax universally enforced' (Plehn,
1901/1902, p. 685). The unit assessment was the household. Certain categories were exempted from
the tributes: alcaldes, gobernadores and cabezas de barangay (in short the principalia), and their sons,
soldiers, members of the civil guard, government officials, and paupers. Tribute was collected both in
specie and in kind. In 1593 the government proposed that tribute be paid in kind, which would lead to
greater food production. This was still the case during the 17th century. The goods used for payment
were: chickens, rice, coconut oil, wine (Cushner, 1971, p. 103). This reflects the predominance of a
subsistence economy and the absence of any monetary exchange. The Spanish crown, however,
preferred payment in specie, in order to increase the gold flow to Spain. The collection of the tribute in
kind caused various difficulties to the local officials, who somehow had to convert the goods into
money. Apparently at the provincial level traders were operating who could exchange these goods for
coins.

During the 18th century up to the 1840s the yield of the tributes was rather low. Several reasons can
be mentioned for this phenomenon. The collection in kind entailed great losses due to spoilage; the
lack of control from the higher administrative levels down to the lowest echelons, made a large part of
the collected tribute disappear into the pockets of the local and provincial officials. It was only during
the 1840s with the increasing centralization of the government structure that the control, and
consequently the yield, increased impressively.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 88

In 1884 the payment of tribute was repealed, and replaced by a graduated poll tax (or capitacion, head
tax). This tax was collected by means of a certificate of identification, known as cedula personal, which
every resident was required to obtain. As Elliott states: 'It was a sort of license to exist and to do
business' (Elliott, 1916, I, p. 252). The cedula had to be shown in court and carried along while
travelling. While the tribute was imposed on households, the cedula was imposed on individuals. There
were 16 different classes of cedulas according to income category, the highest category paying 37,50
pesos, while peasants were paying 1,50 pesos (Plehn, 1901/1902, pp. 691- 693).

Although this tax was progressive, the burden was relatively heavy for those in the lowest category,
and light for the richer people. During the last decades of the Spanish colonial government the cedula
was the main source of government income, yielding 5-7 million pesos per year. During the years 1885-
1886 the replacement of the tribute by the cedula increased the income of the direct taxes rapidly.
Under the tribute system the number of people exempted from taxation had grown considerably, and
these exemptions were discontinued under the cedula system (Corpuz, 1965, 16-17).
In 1878 two direct taxes were added, both imposed on urban incomes:
1. A tax on the annual rental value of urban real estate, known as the 'urbana', and
2. A tax on salaries, dividends and profits, commonly abbreviated as 'industria' (Plehn, 1901/1902,
pp. 701-711).
The urbana tax was levied at the rate of 5% upon the net value of rental value of all houses. A number
of exemptions were granted. The tax list or 'padron' was compiled by local assessment boards. The tax
on industry and commerce was a continuation and extension of an earlier industrial and commercial
license tax on Chinese. The assessment of both the old and the new tax were done by classifying
commercial houses, factories and shops according to classes, and imposing the fixed levy.
Indirect taxes

The customs duties were imposed on imports and exports. The tariff laws as they developed during the
second half of the 19th century, was primarily meant for fiscal purposes, and hardly for protectionist
purposes. Spain did not have a well-developed industry which needed an outlet for its products, while
the colonial government did not engage in productive enterprise on a large scale, except for the
tobacco monopoly. The situation developed by the middle of the century that while Spanish ships
brought nearly all the imports, most of the exports were transported by foreign vessels (Plehn,
1901/1902, p. 131).

The customs duties consisted of ad valorem duties on goods, were set down in long lists of prices for all
kinds of goods (usually in the order of 3-10% ), increased by all kinds of surtaxes and special
retributions. The custom laws were carried out with strong formalism and endless indolence, which
made trading with the islands a difficult enterprise. Nevertheless the commerce of the islands showed
an overall. Increase during the second part of the 19th century and so did the income for custom
duties.

An excise tax (that means a tax imposed on the circulation of goods) was absent in the Philippines. The
Spanish taxation system in the Americas had the alcabala (duty on sales), which was, next to the
tobacco monopoly the largest revenue producer by the end of the 18th century (Priestly, 1916, p. 353).
This was the revenue which bore heaviest upon the people, and it was consequently the most detested
of all the long list of taxes, according to Priestly (Priestly, 1916, p. 353).

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 89

Labor services

Compulsory labor was a feature of Spanish colonial policy in the Philippines. According to the Spanish
laws the Indies, as new Christians, were 'free vassals' of the crown, and their property rights and
personal liberty had to be respected, but labor services could be required from them. During the first
half of the 17th century the Spanish-Dutch wars led to skirmishes and encounters in the Southeast
Asian scene, and the Spanish government in Manila had to reinforce its defence, especially its naval
defence. A large amount of labor was needed for woodcutting and shipbuilding.

This labor was recruited through the polo system, by which male Filipinos had the obligation to provide
labor. The polo was organized by the alcalde mayor of the province. The burden of the polo and of
other levies on the Philippine population seems to have been so heavy that an increase in the death
rate and the flight to the mountains reduced the population during the 17th century.

During the first half of the 19th century the polo seems to have been much lighter. At that time the
polos and servicios were organized at the municipal level. They were intended for public works,
especially the building of roads and bridges, for service in the municipal office (tanoria, one week per
year), and for night guard duties (semaneros, one week per year). Prior to 1884 the polo obligation was
40 days a year. In that year the number of days was reduced to 15. As the higher echelons of the
bureaucracy (e.g. at the national and provincial levels) were not interested in making use of these
services, the polistas were very often employed by municipal officials for private purposes, for instance
working their fields or repairing their houses.

The polo could be redeemed by paying an annual fee (fallas) of 3 pesos per annum. This payment was
to be collected by the municipal officials, and to be transmitted to the central government. As the
central authorities did not exert close supervision on the labor services and the redemption fee, a great
portion of this tax never reached the Treasury. These pilfering by provincial and municipal officials,
were known as caidas, or droppings (Foreman, 1906, p. 224). The provincial and local authorities
cashed the redemption fee from a large number of taxpayers, and then reported to the center a
smaller number of redemption and a larger number of polistas coming out for actual service.

In the second half of the 19th century the polo services by that time called prestacion personal
(personal services) required by the government were less exacting in terms of time. The intensified
military program of the government, however, demanded more manpower for national defence
purposes and this demand took labor away from local governments (Robles, 1969, p. 165). The burden,
however, was apparently rather light. Cruikshank in his study of Samar during the 19th century,
mentions figures of around a hundred men conscripted from a population of 150,000 and more in the
latter decades of the century (Cruikshank, 1975, p. 171).

The taxation system described above reflects not only the economic structure but also the
interrelations between the various institutions and the class alliance upon which they have been
based. As has often been observed, the Spanish colonial government in the Philippines could not have
established and maintained its rule without the active support of a collaborating or mediating elite.
The local chiefs, the datus, were incorporated into the Spanish bureaucracy as the local headmen, the
cabezas de barangay of the newly structured parish communities. All of these taxes imposed by the
Spaniards were heavy burdens to the Filipinos. It highly affect the peasant population of the country as
they did not have resources to pay all the taxes that were imposed under the regime of Spain.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 90

Although these tax systems were progressive, however, it progress differ on your social status, those
who were rich became richer, but those who were poor became poorer.
American Era

In the early American regime from the period 1898 to 1901, the country was ruled by American
military governors. In 1902, the first civil government was established under William H. Taft. However,
it was only during the term of second civil governor Luke E. Wright that the Bureau of Internal Revenue
(BIR) was created through the passage of Reorganization Act No. 1189 dated July 2, 1904.

On August 1, 1904, the BIR was formally organized and made operational under the Secretary of
Finance, Henry Ide (author of the Internal Revenue Law of 1904), with John S. Hord as the first
Collector (Commissioner). The first organization started with 69 employees, which consisted of a
Collector, Vice-Collector, one Chief Clerk, one Law Clerk, one Records Clerk and three (3) Division
Chiefs. Following the tenure of John S. Hord were three (3) more American collectors, namely Ellis
Cromwell (1909-1912; William T. Holting (1912-1214); and James J. Rafferty (1914-1918). They were all
appointed by the Governor-General with the approval of the Philippine Commission and the US
President.

During the term of Collector Holting, the Bureau had its first reorganization on January 1, 1913 with the
creation of eight (8) divisions, namely:

  Accounting;
 Cash;
 Clerical;
  Inspection;
 Law;
  Real Estate;
 License; and
 Records

Collections by the Real Estate and License Divisions were confined to revenue accruing to the City of
Manila. In line with the Filipinization policy of then US President William McKinley, Filipino Collectors
were appointed. The first three (3) BIR Collectors were Wenceslao Trinidad (1918-1922); Juan Posadas,
Jr. (1922-1934); and Alfredo Yatao (1934-1938).

On May 1921, by virtue of Act No. 299, the Real Estate, License and Cash Divisions were abolished and
their functions were transferred to the City of Manila. As a result of this transfer, the Bureau was left
with five (5) divisions, namely:

  Administrative;
 Law;
  Accounting;
 Income Tax; and
 Inspection
Thereafter, the Bureau established the following:

1. The Examiner's Division, formerly the Income Tax Examiner's Section which was later merged
with the Income Tax Division; and
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 91
 2. The Secret Service Section, which handled the detection and surveillance activities but was later
abolished on January 1, 1951.

Except for minor changes and the creation of the Miscellaneous Tax Division in 1939, the Bureau's
organization remained the same from 1921 to 1941.In 1937, the Secretary of Finance promulgated
Regulation No. 95, reorganizing the Provincial Inspection Districts and maintaining in each province an
Internal Revenue Office supervised by a Provincial Agent.
Post-War Era

On July 4, 1946, when the Philippines gained its independence from the United States, the Bureau was
eventually re-established separately. This led to a reorganization on October 1, 1947 by virtue of
Executive Order No. 94, wherein the following were undertaken:
 The Accounting Unit and the Revenue Accounts and Statistical Division were merged into one;
  All records in the Records Section under the Administrative Division were consolidated; and
 All legal work were centralized in the Law Division.

Revenue Regulations No. V-2 dated October 23, 1947, divided the country into 31 inspection units,
each of which was under a Provincial Revenue Agent (except in certain special units which were
headed by a City Revenue Agent or supervisors for distilleries and tobacco factories).
The second major reorganization of the Bureau took place on January 1, 1951 through the passage of
Executive Order No. 392. Three (3) new departments were created, namely:

  Legal;
 Assessment; and
 Collection.

On the latter part of January of the same year, Memorandum Order No. V-188 created the Withholding
Tax Unit, which was placed under the Income Tax Division of the Assessment Department.
Simultaneously, the implementation of the withholding tax system was adopted by virtue of Republic
Act (RA) 690. This method of collecting income tax upon receipt of the income resulted in the
collection of approximately 25% of the total income tax collected during the said period.

The third major reorganization of the Bureau took effect on March 1, 1954 through Revenue
Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 41. This led to the creation of the following offices:
1. Specific Tax Division;
2. Litigation Section;
3. Processing Section; and the
4. Office of the City Revenue Examiner
By September 1, 1954, a Training Unit was created through RMO No. V-4-47.

As an initial step towards decentralization, the Bureau created its first 2 Regional Offices in Cebu and in
Davao on July 20, 1955 per RMO No. V-536. Each Regional Office was headed by a Regional Director,
assisted by Chiefs of five (5) Branches, namely:
 Tax Audit;

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 92

  Collection;
  Investigation;
 Legal; and
 Administrative.

The creation of the Regional Offices marked the division of the Philippine islands into three (3) revenue
regions. The Bureau's organizational set-up expanded beginning 1956 in line with the regionalization
scheme of the government. Consequently, the Bureau's Regional Offices increased to (8) eight and
later into ten (10) in 1957. The Accounting Machine Branch was also created in each Regional Office.

In January 1957, the position title of the head of the Bureau was changed from Collector to
Commissioner. The last Collector and the first Commissioner of the BIR was Jose Aranas. A significant
step undertaken by the Bureau in 1958 was the establishment of the Tax Census Division and the
corresponding Tax Census Unit for each Regional Office. This was done to consolidate all statements of
assets, incomes, and liabilities of all individual and resident corporations in the Philippines into a
National Tax Census. To strictly enforce the payment of taxes and to further discourage tax evasion, RA
No. 233 or the Rewards Law was passed on June 19, 1959 whereby informers were rewarded the 25%
equivalent of the revenue collected from the tax evader.

In 1964, the Philippines was re-divided anew into 15 regions and 72 inspection districts. The Tobacco
Inspection Board and Accountable Forms Committee were also created directly under the Office of the
Commissioner.
Marcos Administration

The appointment of Misael Vera as Commissioner in 1965 led the Bureau to a "new direction" in tax
administration. The most notable programs implemented were the "Blue Master Program" and the
"Voluntary Tax Compliance Program". The first program was adopted to curb the abuses of both the
taxpayers and BIR personnel, while the second program was designed to encourage professionals in
the private and government sectors to report their true income and to pay the correct amount of
taxes.

It was also during Commissioner Vera's administration that the country was further subdivided into 20
Regional Offices and 90

Revenue District Offices, in addition to the creation of various offices which included the Internal Audit
Department (replacing the Inspection Department), Administrative Service Department, International
Tax Affairs Staff and Specific Tax Department.

Providing each taxpayer with a permanent Tax Account Number (TAN) in 1970 not only facilitated the
identification of taxpayers but also resulted to faster verification of tax records. Similarly, the payment
of taxes through banks (per Executive Order No. 206), as well as the implementation of the package
audit investigation by industry are considered to be important measures which contributed
significantly to the improved collection performance of the Bureau.

The proclamation of Martial Law on September 21, 1972 marked the advent of the New Society and
ushered in a new approach to the developmental efforts of the government. Several tax amnesty
decrees issued by the President were promulgated to enable erring taxpayers to start anew.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 93

Organization-wise, the Bureau had also undergone several changes during the Martial Law period
(1972-1980).

In 1976, under Commissioner Efren Plana's administration, the Bureau's National Office transferred
from the Finance Building in Manila to its own 12-story building in Quezon City, which was inaugurated
on June 3, 1977. It was also in the same year that President Marcos promulgated the National Internal
Revenue Code of 1977, which updated the 1934 Tax Code.

On August 1, 1980, the Bureau was further reorganized under the administration of Commissioner
Ruben Ancheta. New offices were created and some organizational units were relocated for the
purpose of making the Bureau more responsive to the needs of the taxpaying public.
Cory Aquino Administration

After the People's Revolution in February 1986, a renewed thrust towards an effective tax
administration was pursued by the Bureau. "Operation: Walang Lagay" was launched to promote the
efficient and honest collection of taxes.

On January 30, 1987, the Bureau was reorganized under the administration of Commissioner
Bienvenido Tan, Jr. pursuant to Executive Order (EO) No. 127. Under the said EO, two (2) major
functional groups headed and supervised by a Deputy Commissioner were created, and these were:
 The Assessment and Collection Group; and
 The Legal and Internal Administration Group.

With the advent of the value-added tax (VAT) in 1988, a massive campaign program aimed to promote
and encourage compliance with the requirements of the VAT was launched. The adoption of the VAT
system was one of the structural reforms provided for in the 1986 Tax Reform Program, which was
designed to simplify tax administration and make the tax system more equitable. It was also in 1988
that the Revenue Information Systems Services Inc. (RISSI) was abolished and transferred back to the
BIR by virtue of a Memorandum Order from the Office of the President dated May 24, 1988. This
transfer had implications on the delivery of the computerization requirements of the Bureau in relation
to its functions of tax assessment and collection.

The entry of Commissioner Jose Ong in 1989 saw the advent of the "Tax Administration Program"
which is the embodiment of the Bureau's mission to improve tax collection and simplify tax
administration. The Program contained several tax reform and enhancement measures, which included
the use of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and the adoption of the New Payment Control
System and Simplified Net Income Taxation Scheme.
Ramos Administration

The year 1993 marked the entry into the Bureau of its first lady Commissioner, Liwayway Vinzons-
Chato. In order to attain the Bureau's vision of transformation, a comprehensive and integrated
program known as the ACTS or Action-Centered Transformation Program was undertaken to realign
and direct the entire organization towards the fulfillment of its vision and mission.

It was during Commissioner Chato's term that a five-year Tax Computerization Project (TCP) was
undertaken in 1994. This involved the establishment of a modern and computerized Integrated Tax
System and Internal Administration System.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 94
Further streamlining of the BIR was approved on July 1997 through the passage of EO No.430, in order
to support the implementation of the computerized Integrated Tax System. Highlights of the said EO
included the:

 Creation of a fourth Revenue Group in the BIR, which is the Legal and Enforcement Group
 (headed by a Deputy Commissioner); and
 Creation of the Internal Affairs Service, Taxpayers Assistance Service, Information Planning and
Quality Service and the Revenue Data Centers.

Estrada Administration

With the advent of President Estrada's administration, a Deputy Commissioner of the BIR, Beethoven
Rualo, was appointed as Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Under his leadership, priority reform
measures were undertaken to enhance voluntary compliance and improve the Bureau's productivity.
One of the most significant reform measures was the implementation of the Economic Recovery
Assistance Payment (ERAP) Program, which granted immunity from audit and investigation to
taxpayers who have paid 20% more than the tax paid in 1997 for income tax, VAT and/or percentage
taxes.

In order to encourage and educate consumers/taxpayers to demand sales invoices and receipts, the
raffle promo "Humingi ng Resibo, Manalo ng Libo-Libo" was institutionalized in 1999. The Large
Taxpayers Monitoring System was also established under Commissioner Rualo's administration to
closely monitor the tax compliance of the country's large taxpayers. The coming of the new millennium
ushered in the changing of the guard in the BIR with the appointment of Dakila Fonacier as the new
Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Under his administration, measures that would enhance taxpayer
compliance and deter tax violations were prioritized. The most significant of these measures include:

  Full utilization of tax computerization in the Bureau's operations;

 Expansion of the use of electronic Documentary Stamp Tax metering machine and
establishment of tie-up with the national government agencies and local government units for
 the prompt remittance of withholding taxes; and
 Implementation of Compromise Settlement Program for taxpayers with outstanding accounts
receivable and disputed assessments with the BIR.

Memoranda of Agreement were also forged with the league of local government units and several
private sectors and professional organizations (i.e. MAP, TMAP, PCCI, FFCCCI, etc.) to help the BIR
implement tax campaign initiatives.

On September 1, 2000, the Large Taxpayers Service (LTS) and the Excise Taxpayers Service (ETS) were
established under EO No. 175 to reinforce the tax administration and enforcement capabilities of the
BIR. Shortly after the establishment of said revenue services, a new organizational structure was
approved on October 31, 2001 under EO No. 306 which resulted in the integration of the functions of
the ETS and the LTS.

In line with the passage of the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 on June 14, the Bureau implemented a
Full Integrated Tax System (ITS) Rollout Acceleration Program to facilitate the full utilization of tax
computerization in the Bureau's operations. Under the Program, seven (7) ITS back-end systems were
released in stages in RR 8 - Makati City and the Large Taxpayers Service.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 95
Arroyo Administration

Following the momentous events of EDSA II in January 2001, newly-installed President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo appointed a former Deputy Commissioner, Atty. René G. Bañez, as the new
Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Under Commissioner Bañez's administration, the BIR’s thrust was
to transform the agency to make it taxpayer-focused. This was undertaken through the
implementation of change initiatives that were directed to:
1. Reform the tax system to make it simpler and suit the Philippine culture;
2. reengineer the tax processes to make them simpler, more efficient and transparent;
3. Restructure the BIR to give it financial and administrative flexibility; and
4. Redesign the human resource policies, systems, and procedures to transform the workforce to
be more responsive to taxpayers' needs.

Measures to enhance the Bureau's revenue-generating capability were also implemented, the most
notable of which were the implementation of the Voluntary Assessment Program and Compromise
Settlement Program and expansion of coverage of the creditable withholding tax system. A
technology-based system that promotes the paperless filing of tax returns and payment of taxes was
also adopted through the Electronic Filing and Payment System (eFPS).

With the resignation of Commissioner Bañez on August 19, 2002, Finance Undersecretary Cornelio C.
Gison was designated as interim BIR Commissioner. Eight days later (on August 27, 2002), former
Customs Commissioner, Guillermo L. Parayno, Jr. was appointed as the new Commissioner of Internal
Revenue (CIR).

Barely a month since his assumption to duty as the new CIR, Commissioner Parayno offered a
Voluntary Assessment and Abatement Program (VAAP) to taxpayers with under-declared
sales/receipts/income. To enhance the collection performance of the BIR, Commissioner Parayno
adopted the use of new systems such as the Reconciliation of Listings for Enforcement or RELIEF
System to detect under-declarations of taxable income by taxpayers and the electronic broadcasting
system to enhance the security of tax payments. It was also under Commissioner Parayno’s
administration that the BIR expanded its electronic services to include the web-based TIN application
and processing; an electronic raffle of invoices/receipts; provision of e-payment gateways; e-
substituted filing of tax returns and electronic submission of sales reports. The conduct of special
operations on high profile tax evaders, which resulted to the filing of tax cases under the Run after Tax
Evaders (RATE) Program marked Commissioner Parayno’s administration as well as the conduct of Tax
Compliance Verification Drives and accreditation and registration of cash register machines and point-
of-sale machines. To improve taxpayer service, the Bureau also established a BIR Contact Center in the
National Office and eLounges in Regional Offices.

On October 28, 2006, Deputy Commissioner for Legal and Inspection Group, Jose Mario C. Buñag was
appointed as full-fledged Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Under his administration, the Bureau
attained success in a number of key undertakings, which included the expansion of the RATE Program
to the Regional Offices; inclusion of new payment gateways, such as the Efficient Service Machines and
the G-Cash and SMART Money facilities; implementation of the Benchmarking Method and installation
of the Bureau’s e-Complaint System, a new e-Service that allows taxpayers to log their complaints
against erring revenuers through the BIR website. The Nationwide Rollout of Computerized Systems

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 96

(NRCS) was also undertaken to extend the use of the Bureau’s Integrated Tax System across its non-
computerized Revenue District Offices.

In 2007, the National Program Support for Tax Administration Reform (NPSTAR), a program funded by
various international development agencies, was launched to improve the BIR efficiency in various
areas of taxadministration (i.e. taxpayer compliance, tax enforcement and control, etc.).

On June 29, 2007, Commissioner Buñag relinquished the top post of the BIR and was replaced by
Deputy Commissioner for Operations Group, Lilian B. Hefti, making her the second lady Commissioner
of the BIR. Commissioner Hefti focused on the strengthening of the use of business intelligence by
embarking on data matching of income payments of withholding agents against the reported income
of the concerned recipients. Information sharing between the BIR and the Local Government Units
(LGUs) was also intensified through the LGU Revenue Assurance System, which aims to uncover fraud
and non-payment of taxes. To enhance the Bureau’s audit capabilities, the use of Computer-Assisted
Audit Tools and Techniques (CAATTs) was also introduced in the BIR under her term. With the
resignation of Commissioner Hefti in October 2008, former BIR Deputy Commissioner for Legal and
Enforcement Group, Sixto S. Esquivias IV was appointed as the new Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
Commissioner Esquivias’ administration was marked with the conduct of nationwide closure of erring
business establishments under the “Oplan Kandado” Program.

A Taxpayer Feedback Mechanism (through the eComplaint facility accessible via the BIR Website) was
also established under his term where complaints on erring BIR employees and taxpayers who do not
pay taxes and do not issue ORs/invoices can be reported. In 2009, the Bureau revived its “Handang
Maglingkod” Project where the best frontline offices were recognized for rendering effective taxpayer
service. When Commissioner Esquivias resigned in November 2009, Senior Deputy Commissioner, Joel
L. Tan-Torres assumed the position of Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Under his administration,
Commissioner Tan-Torres pursued a high visibility public awareness campaign on the Bureau’s
enforcement and taxpayers’ service programs. He institutionalized several programs/projects to
improve revenue collections, and these include Project R.I.P (Rest in Peace); intensified filing of tax
evasion cases under the re-invigorated RATE Program; conduct of Taxpayers Lifestyle Check and
development of Industry Champions. Linkages with various agencies (i.e. LTO, SEC, etc.) were also
established through the signing of several Memoranda of Agreement to improve specific areas of tax
administration.
P-Noy Aquino Administration

Following the highly-acclaimed inauguration of President Benigno C. Aquino III on June 30, 2010, a
former BIR Deputy Commissioner, Atty. Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, was appointed as the new
Commissioner of Internal Revenue. During her first few months in the BIR, Commissioner Henares
focused on the filing of tax evasion cases under the RATE Program, in compliance with the SONA
pronouncements of President Aquino.
Duterte Administration

On December 19, 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Tax Reform for Acceleration and
Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, wherein it exempts all taxpayers, whose annual income is less than or equal to
P250, 000, to pay their taxes. As compensation, petroleum products and consumer goods with either

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 97

natural, artificial, or high-fructose syrup sweeteners will get an increase in its prices, with natural fruit
juices and milk being exempted from these increase.

Learning Activity: Analytical and Research Based Discourse

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

 With all the different tax reforms and taxation systems in the Philippines, do you think that our
current taxation has improved and the general population have benefited in such systems? In
what way that it affects the population, and how would you compare it to your experiences as a
tax payer?
References:

 W. Wolters; A comparison between the taxation systems in the Philippines under Spanish rule
and Indonesia under Dutch rule during the 19th century; retrieved from
https://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-21-1983/wolters.pdf

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
 REX Book Store, Inc.
 Nicola, Zafra; 1956; Readings in Philippine History; University of the Philippines, Quezon City

 Alvarez, L. A. [author], and Regala, T. O. [translator] (n.d.). The Spanish taxation system and the
Manila food market: Indications of an early commercialized economy. Retrieved from
 ovcrd.upd.edu.ph/kasarinlan/article/view/398/1355
Badongen, S. M. (2011). Philippine economy under the Spanish occupation. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/shielambb/spanish-8824883
Bureau of Internal Revenue (n.d.). BIR history. Lifted and modified from
https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/transparency/bir-history.html
Bureau of Internal Revenue (n.d.). Tax reform for acceleration and inclusion (TRAIN). Lifted and
modified from https://www.bir.gov.ph/index.php/train.html
Canete-Trinidad, M. (2013). Spanish colonial government part iii. Lifted and modified from
https://www.slideshare.net/MarcyTrinidad/spanish-colonial-government-part-iii
Go, F. M. L. (n.d.). History of taxation in the Philippines. Lifted and modified from
https://www.scribd.com/document/28957370/History-of-Taxation-in-the-Philippines
Hisona, H. (2010). The forced labor and tribute of the Filipinos during Spanish period. Lifted and
modified from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Forced-Labor-and-Tribute-of-the-Filipinos-During-
Spanish-Period&id=5620267
Sevilla, K. (2013). Pre Spanish period in the Philippines. Lifted and modified from
https://www.slideshare.net/Kate_JRG/pre-spanish-period-in-the-philippines

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 98

 CHAPTER 6

Doing History: A Guide for Students

Going through different perspective and narratives of Philippine history; having the articulate
knowledge on the very foundation of the country is not enough to fully understand the genuine point
of history. As part of social group that contributes to the development of our country, it is greatly
beneficial that as an agent of social change we will be able to contribute a narrative that will help the
country thru having the sense of inclusivity in the course of historical writings. In this chapter, it will
give a skill focus on writing history from the standpoint of what you have learned from the previous
lessons. It has three lessons that will be cover as such: Doing historical research in the manner of
online, libraries, and archives; Doing local and oral history; and Interacting with history through
historical shrines and museum.

LESSON 6.1: Doing Historical Research Online, Libraries, and Archives

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 99
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Incorporate technology in the discipline of history in doing historical research.

 Identify the different methods of writing history

Introduction
Doing historical research have been a great deal to present your work as credible and reliable thru
having sources. These sources could be from internet, libraries, or archives. In today’s age, internet has
been the means of sources from the students as we turn into modern era of acquiring sources; we are
able to read historical writing thru internet. Libraries is a great source as it presenting an actual hard
copies of the documents or books, and that goes with the archival sources. In this lesson, it will present
different sources of doing history.
Doing Research Online

It is simple doing historical research online. All you have to do is find a reach engine that will give you
variety of competitive sources. However, as a researcher you need to make sure that all of the sources
and sites that you are going thru are reliable and have the credibility to give you authentic and truthful
documents or source. You have to know what you are looking, the purpose of your research, where
will you do and find the researching. Responsible research needs to exercise as plagiarism exist. In
doing so, proper citation of the author and the site is necessary to not dump the intellectual property
of those authors andsites.

In doing historical research there are various website that will bring you to a comprehensive and
reliable researches. Google has been a great sources for years, and to have various access to EBooks,
electronic journal articles, and other institutional sources google have created Google Scholar
(www.scholar.google.com). It will be a good starting point to access through this site as it will give you
variety of sources that will greatly benefit your narratives.

There is also Google Book (www.books.google.com), this provide sources from scanned books, where
you will be able to download some chapters that will be useful to your researches, instead of having
physical books and going to the library, it will give you the luxury of comfort staying indoors finding for
your credible sources. However, when there are books in these sites that are not view for free, some if
not most are not free.

There are also government sites that will help you have government related sources. Philippine
government website (www.gov.ph) have enriched sources that will be useful in historical research. You
could find different laws of the government and issuance of government affairs, also speeches of the
presidents and documents concerning political matter in the western colonization. To find
contemporary issues, government related news, and events, there are websites of different
newspapers and outlets that you can visit.

One of the most common result when searching online is from Wikipedia with over 40 million and 293
languages available. Wikipedia is known for being an open digital encyclopaedia, which is a downside
of this site since it is open anyone can edit and publish articles with wrong information, which make it
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 100
unreliable source. However, it has useful Launchpad for sources that may be useful for your research.
When reading on Wikipedia look for the link citation sources and click the citation that will bring you to
the source that will be useful for your research.

Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) is a digital library that you can legally download scanned
copies of books and other materials for free, especially books that have expired copyright and those
books in public domain. It has different collection that has over 50,000 items, which includes various
works that are related to Philippine, especially narratives and documents in the western occupation in
the Philippines. There is also an online archives like Internet Archives (www.archive.org) that contains
279 billion web pages, 11 million books and texts, 4 million audio recordings, 3 million videos, 1 million
images, and 100,000 software programs.
Doing research in Libraries and Archives

It is necessary when doing research in history that your sources are from the archives and libraries as it
gives significance in creating historical narratives thru providing primary and secondary sources, and
methodology from historical scholarship. Exposing students from archives and libraries in conducting
researches will serve an avenue where knowledge and skills in historical research will flourish.

Students of history are shaped to write historical essays or historical research paper through the
peripheral of primary sources that are available in the archives and libraries. However, online also
produces documents and books that considered as primary and secondary sources, but libraries and
the archives provides more variety of sources in different formats such as, books, journal articles,
newspapers, magazines, photographs, and even audio and videos recordings. But, it will be a much
difficult task to looking through available sources.

In the presence of modern technology most of the libraries nowadays are using digital catalogue
compared to the card catalogue of the old ways. In the use of Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC),
access on different books are easier at it provides a search engine that will directly yield the holdings of
the library that are related to what you are looking for, and when searching for a subject it will give you
a list of sources, primary and secondary, creating set of biographies that you may access physically.

In the Philippines there are plenty of libraries that could give you a variety of source materials on your
research. The National Library of the Philippines in Ernita, Manila, provides a rich sources for
researchers especially in the study of history, you can look upon their Filipiniana section where books
in history are mostly located.

In doing research in the archives it is a lot more complicated and proved to be advance compared to
the library, it provides you with a variety of sources that are not available in the usual libraries. The
National Archives of the Philippines in Manila is a government agency mandated to collect, store,
preserve and make available archival records of the Government and other primary sources pertaining
to the history and development of the country. The documents here are mostly original, such as
documents during the Spanish regime are in original language, thou, it may be difficult for students to
access this type of documents, and however, asking assistant to the personnel are recommendable.

University libraries also have variety of books like the libraries in the University of the Philippines in
Deliman, Quezon City, which has holdings that could be useful in research. The collections of the
libraries in the U.P especially in the main library in its Filipiniana sections, serials, theses, and
dissertations are rich sources in research. Whereas, the University library of Ateneo De Manila
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 101
University in Quezon City have holdings of American historical collections, which is a rich source about
the American period in the Philippines. The other university library is the University of Santo Tomas in
espana, Manila, that holds collections from the 16th century that holds a fact since it is the oldest
catholic university in the Philippines.

There are also private libraries and institutions’ archives that may be useful for research. If you want to
access research on genealogy, there are generous sources in the Family History center at the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints. For the Chinese and Chinese Filipinos in the Philippines and in South
East Asia sources, the Chinben See Memorial Library, kaisa-Angelo king Heritage Center offers those
sources for research.

Learning Activity:

ESSAY. Discuss your answer briefly.

1. If you would conduct local history of your place which of the following ways or methodology will
you use? Why?
Reference:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

LESSON 6.2: Doing Local and Oral History

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Conduct oral history of the municipality

  Discuss the importance of historical methodology in conducting local and oral history
 Present local history and cultural heritage of the municipality

Introduction
When we talk about History as a subject and course, the scopes that always comes in mind are topics
that pertains in the study of World history, Philippine history, and Asian history. These course studies
have always been broad and expensive to learn since it usually tackles about large spaces of scope and
of prominent personalities. However, in the scope of Philippine history that deals in the local narratives
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 102
and oral history of the country have turn into little knowledge since it is not into the previous learning
scope of the course and subject. In this lesson, understanding local and oral history have given
attention for the students to learn and be knowledgeable in these sub discipline of history.

In the study of local history it gives a substance on the national history and as well provide a
foundation in doing historical narratives in the Philippine, as it study a particular unit of geography,
which would a great help in creating a narrative. Through this much smaller scope of geography it
could lend a focus on local history that could be beneficial to the study of national history. What form
of narrative does it study? In doing local history it deals with the local heroes, local churches, and local
places that could have significance in the formation of a specific community. It could also be studying
and creating a narratives about names of local places; its historical implications and its establishment.
Local history may also include in its scope the study of local economies, and local politics. Therefore,
when doing local history it has a broad and dynamic field of inquiry that aims a thorough in depth
understanding of a specific locality.

Thru local history we will be able to make an alternative in the interpretation of the aspect of national
history. It facilitate a learning tools of ideas and perspective that concern the study of nation’s history.
It creates a dimension of interpretation that could potentially influence the narratives of nation’s
history; an avenue where various ideas connecting the line of history in the national aspect as it tells
the experiences and the unique side of the locale history. It may sound that it study to oppose the
national history, however, thru local history, enrichment of the narratives of the Philippine history
could even flourish. Despite of its importance there are existing challenges in doing local history.
Although it involves a smaller unit of geography, there are no enough sources to support the narrative
of the local history. Conducting a research on local heroes or history of the establishment of a local
community is a challenging aspect for local historian since scarcity on sources could alter the
historian’s narrative. Hence, this should not make local historian to stop digging the foundation of the
local community, it should serve as a driving factor to write more narratives through being innovative
in gathering sources. There are other methodology of doing local history that historian could use; a
significant historical methodology that historian could apply is doing Oral history.

Oral history is defined as “research into the past that records the memories of witnesses to the past in
order to draw on direct and personal experience of events and conditions.” (Michael Lewis-Beck, Alan
Bryman and Tim Futing Liao eds., the Sage Encyclopaedia of Social Science Research Methods, 2004,
770) oral history is useful especially if there is no available written records of the specific study. As per
definition, memory is essential in conducting oral history, as historian you need to find an informant
that are articulate on the past tradition or information of the past. However, there could be some
down side of oral history, there could be instances that it tend to be inaccurate and faulty; though it is
a great supplement in writing historical narratives. Perhaps faulty, but, somehow, there are instances
that it is necessary, especially in doing local history of the indigenous people. They were left out and
there is no available records that tells their history, the historian’s choice is to be innovative and use
oral history to capture their experiences, tradition, and collective past that could, perhaps, a great
addition in the Philippine history.

Local and Oral history are methodology in conducting history that provides an alternative and
comprehensive narrative in nation’s history; gives flavour in the development of the discipline in
history. With this, historians were able to shape an inclusive narrative for the unprivileged society
through creating a historical narratives of the locale, and providing holistic interpretation of the past.
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 103
 Learning Activity: Research Based Discourse

Requirements:
1. Conduct a research study about the establishment of the Municipality of Palimbang.
 Research the etymology of Palimbang using historical methodology of conducting local
 and oral history.
 Who were the first settlers of Palimbang?
  How does Palimbang named?
2. Make a documentary video to Japanese and American establishment in the municipality.
Reference:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

LESSON 6.3: Interacting with History through Historical Shrines and Museum
Learn
ing
Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

  Visit the historical shrine and museum

  Explain the importance of the shrine in the municipality
 Conduct documentary on the historical shrines

In the course of all the lessons in this module we have been acquiring valuable amount of historical
knowledge on writing and knowing the past, thus providing knowledge on different historical sources.
Research has always been an avenue where we can learn various historical findings and learnings
about our country and in the course of history. With all that, there are available street of information
where we can experience the beauty of history, through historical shrines and museum this would not
AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 104
be impossible. These places has provide a sense of “living in past” as it gives a certain level of authority
and trustworthiness that could shape on how we perceive the past. These venues provides a whole
new level of experiences through interacting with artefacts, remnants that we could no longer imagine,
rather, able to witness the images from the past such as, weapons of the world war II. This is not just a
mere object of the past, but an object that we just imagine reading history books, an object of the past
that we can experience, giving us a new level of understanding history. Through this, historian could
widen his understanding, could express the narrative of history in his writings.

Historical shrines and museum serve as portals to the past. It is a must also take note that visiting a
museum entails preparation. Upon arriving in the historical shrine or museum, one thing that you can
do is to look for the historical markers. This markers put up by the National Historical Commission of
the Philippines (NHCP or formerly National Historical Institute or NHI) provide a certain details on what
makes a certain site historically. However, before visiting the venues you need to prepare yourself on
the information that you entail to know or expose to. If you are to visit the Rizal’s Shrine, you need to
be knowledgeable on the life of Rizal, or have read a books that concern’s Rizal’s life.

Shrines and Museums are a lot more interactive now, since technology have emerge. In order to learn
more about history, you need to take part of this new technologies, interactive learning to have a great
experience about history and see the beauty it hold. If there are available audio recordings, or videos,
watch and listen to it. An opportunity of exposing oneself to historical information and could give
criticism, interpretation, and evaluation. Love our history, as it is a way to boost your nationalism.
Philippine history is our history; it is the history of the Filipino people.

Reference:

 Candelaria, John Lee P., Alporha, Veronica C.: Reading in Philippine History; Sampaloc, Manila:
REX Book Store, Inc.

AKMAD: Readings In Philippine History 105