uring the Spanish colonial period, Philippine history was primarily written by the Spaniards.

Early Spanish historians

took note of the native's appearance and way of life. However, many of these early histories depicted the Filipinos in
negative terms and often contained biases against the colonized people.

José Rizal's annotation of Antonio Morga's work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, was an attempt to redress this biased view of the
Filipinos. Although Rizal's annotations have been “largely disregarded,”his work has been credited as the first Philippine history to be
written from the viewpoint of a Filipino.

At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:

argue the reasons why José Rizal decided to annotate Antonio Morga's work, Sucesos de las Ilas Filipinas;

relate how Rizal's annotations conform with the overall aims of the Propaganda Movement; and

create their own annotations of a sample text.

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Audiencia-the Royal Audiencia or the royal court of justice in Spain and its colonies

ecclesiastics - the religious missionaries

secular - having ideas and attitudes not determined by any religious bias

Antonio Morga was a Spanish administrator who served in the Philippines in the late sixteenth century. He
was born in Seville in 1559 and began working for the government in 1580.He served as the Lieutenant-
Governor-second most powerful position in the colony-of the Philippines in 1593 and then as a judge of the
Audiencia in 1598. By 1615, he moved to Mexico where he served as the president of the Audiencia.He was
later investigated for corruption and was found guilty. Before being sent to the gallows, however, he died in
1636.

Morga's work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, was published in 1609 in Mexico and consisted of eight
chapters. The first seven chapters dealt with the terms of the governor-generals who had served in the
Philippines from the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565 to Pedro de Acuña in 1606. The last chapter,titled
“An account of the Philippine Islands,” provided ample descriptions of early Filipinos upon the arrival of the
Spaniards in the sixteenth century.

While at the British Museum in late 1889, Rizal found a copy of the first edition of Antonio Morga's
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas and began copying the text by hand. He annotated the work along the way with
the intention of creating a critical work on the history of the Philippines. Despite hopes of getting the work
published through the help of Antonio Regidor, Rizal ended up with no publisher when his annotations were
done.

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By September 1889,Rizal decided to publish the annotations himself in Garnier Hermanos, a printing press
based in Paris.

Rizal's choice of annotating Morga's work among all other early chronicles written by Spaniards is not
coincidental.Historian Ambeth Ocampo provides five reasons behind Rizal's choice.

The first reason, according to Ocampo, was the fact that Morga's work in its original Spanish edition
was rare. In fact, the original Spanish text had never been reprinted in full until Rizal published his
annotations in 1889. Second, unlike other early Spanish chronicles written by ecclesiastics, Morga was a
civil administrator and therefore provided a secular view of historical events during the early Spanish
colonial period.This second reason relates to Rizal's belief that a secular account was more credible than
those written by religious missionaries, which is the third reason for his choice. Fourth, it was more
sympathetic towards the natives in contrast to the biased accounts written by the friars. Finally, Morga's
work was a fitting choice because he was an eyewitness to historical events that occurred in the Philippines
during the period of early Spanish colonization.

With the publication of his annotations to Sucesos, Rizal presented an outline of a linear conception
of history. While Noli Me Tángere dealt with the nineteenth century or Rizal's present,and El Filibusterismo
and the essay titled “The Philipines a Century Hence”covered the future, the annotations of Sucesos
tackled the past.

More than an attempt to write the country's history,however, Rizal's annotation of Morga's Sucesos
must also be seen within the context of the Propaganda Movement. At a time when Filipino propagandists
were clamoring for reforms in Spain, presenting a critical narrative of the country's history might be
considered as an endeavor to create a sense of national consciousness or identity that was anchored on a
glorious past.Whereas early Spanish chroniclers ridiculed the early Filipinos

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130 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL

for being barbarians, Rizal's copious notes of Sucesos revealed early Filipino culture as rich and
flourishing. Thus, Rizal's annotations may be considered an effort to assert Filipino identity
within an oppressive colonial framework.

Critical Reading

Read the following excerpts from Rizal's annotations of Morga's Sucesos de

las Islas Filipinas. Answer the questions that follow.

Excerpt 1

Morga:
Their regular daily food is rice...togetber with boiled fish of which ther is an abundance,
and pork or venison,likewise meat of wild buffalo or carabao. They prefer meat and
fish,saltfish whicb begin to decompose and smell.

Rizal's annotation:
This is another preoccupation of the Spaniards wbo,like any other nation, in the matter of
food,loathe that to which they are not accustomed or is unknown to them.The English,for
example, is horrified on seeing a Spaniard eating snails; to the Spaniard beefsteak is repugnant
and be can't understand bow raw beefsteak can be eaten; the Chinese who eat tahuri and
shark cannot stand Roquefort cheese, etc., etc. The fisb that Morga mentions does not taste
better when it is beginning to rot; all on the contrary: it is bagoong and all those who bave
eaten it and tasted it know that it is not or ougbt not to be rotten.

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Excerpt 2

Morga:
In the rivers and streams there are very large and small scorpions and a great number of
very fierce and cruel crocodiles which frequently get the natives from their bancas on which they
ride...However much the people may trap,catch and kill them,these reptiles bardly seem to
diminish in number.For this reason, the natives build on the border of their rivers and streams in
their settlements where they bathe,traps and fences with thick enclosures and bars of bamboo
and timber within which they do their bathing and washing, secure from these monsters which
they fear and respect to the degree of veneration,as if they were somebow superior to them.

Rizal's annotation:
Perbaps for the same reason,other nations bave great esteem for the lion and bear, putting them on their
shields and giving them bonorable epithets.The mysterious life of the crocodile, the enormous size that it
sometimes reaches, its fatidical aspect,without counting any more its voraciousness, must bave influenced
greatly the imagination of the Malayan Filipinos.

Questions
1. In Excerpt 1, what impression of the Filipinos do you get from reading Morga's description of
the type of food the natives eat? Which particular phrase gives you this impression?

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132 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSÉ RIZAL

2. What is Rizal's purpose in writing an annotation about the food preferences of the
English,Spaniards,and Chinese?

3. In Excerpt 2, how did Morga portray the Filipinos?

4. In Rizal's subsequent annotation, what does he mean when he says,“Perhaps for the same
reason, other nations have great esteem for the lion and bear, putting them on their shields and
giving them honorable epithets”?

5. In general,what is Rizal's motive in writing his annotations of Morga's work? How does this
fit into the aims of other propagandists workng for reforms during this time?

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Annotating a Text

Form yourselves intogroups of three to four members.Choose one article from the headlines section of a recent issue of a local newspaper. Reflect on the

article by annotating the text.Use the following pointers to help you write your annotations.*

1. Define words. Look up and write down definitions of unfamiliar words.

2. Relate certain portions to other parts of the article.

3. Relate certain ideas to wha you have read from other materials.

4. Re-write by paraphrasing or summarizing portions that you find difficult to understand.

5. Relate certain ideas to your own experiences.

6. Explain the context behind the article you have read.

7.Analyze or interpret what is being said in the text.

*For more pointers, see Brown, Matthew D. March 2007. I'll have mine annotated, please: helping students make connections with texts. English Journa/ 96-4:73-

78. Also available online at http://www.readwritethink.org/files/esources/lesson_images/lesson1132/EJ0964Have.pdf

Rizal's annotations of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas may be considered an attempt to write Philippine history from the point of view of a Filipino. With the

publication of this work, Rizal provided a linear view of history with Noli Me Tángere showing a view of the present, El Filibusterismo and "The Philippines a Century

Hence” illustrating a view of the future, and the annotations clarifying a view of the past.

In addition, Rizal's annotations should also be understood within the context of propaganda work that Filipinos in Spain were engaged in.The annotations

explored the possibilities of creating a Filipino identity anchored clearly on a pre-Spanish past.

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Ocampo,Ambeth. 1998. Rizal's Morga and views of Philippine history.Philippine Studies 46(2): 184-214.

Rizal, José. 1961 [1890]. Sucesos de las islas Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de Morga, obra publicada en
Méjico el año de 1609 nuevamente sacada a luz y anotada (Events of the Philippine Islands by Dr. Antonio
de Morga,publisbed in Mexico in 1609 recently brought to light and annotated).Manila: José Rizal National
Centennial Commission.

Schumacher, John. 1997. The Filipino past and education for the future, 1887-1891. In The Propaganda
Movement,1880-1895: The creation of a Filipino consciousness, the making of the revolution, pp.212-
235.Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Veneracion, Jaime B. 1983 and 1984. Ang kasaysayan sa kasalukuyang henerasyon. Historical Bulletin (Tmo
27 and 28):13-27.
134 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSÉ RIZAL

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