READINGS IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY
NOTES
Introduction
Purpose
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We study RPH to understand the present and strengthen the Filipino nationalism
History
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A chronology of the past to the present
A contested territory – a story can be viewed, remembered, and interpreted in various ways
(Reynaldo Ileto)
Why study history?
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“The ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times” (Gustave Flaubert)
“To foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past” (Dr.
Jose Rizal)
Perspectives in Writing and studying Philippine History
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Bipartite View
o Dilim-Liwanag
o The Philippine history started when colonizers arrived
Tripartite View
o Liwanag-Dilim
o Rizal’s view
o The Philippine culture was rich even before the colonizers arrived
Pantayong Pananaw
o Zeus Salazar
o “self-reflected view”
PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES
Theories on the Peopling of the Philippines
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Land Bridge Theory
o Proposed by Henry Otley Beyer
o 1.8 million years ago, the Filipinos utilized a land bridge connection
 Borneo-Palawan
 Guinea- Mindanao
 Borneo – Sulu and Mindanao
 Celebes – Mindoro
 Taiwan – Philippines
o These land bridges were now sunken due to the tide’s rise
o Wave Migration Theory
Austronesian Migration Theory
o Peter Bellwood
o “Out of Taiwan or China” Theory
o Austronesian speakers utilized boats toward various land areas, including the Philippines
o Voyagers
Core Population Theory
o Landa Jocano
o Opposed Beyer
o Early inhabitants came 21,000 or 22,000 years ago
o Filipinos are a long process of evolution and movement of the people
Indicators of Civilization
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Government
Religion
Education
Arts
Technology
Society
Pre-colonial Government
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BARANGAY was the typical community in the whole archipelago
o Mostly familial or composed by a clan
o Maritime; clans were spread through
o RAJA
 Overall ruler
 Has power over more territories
 Familiar with Hindu education
o
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DATU
 Under the rule of Rajas
 Rulers of the smaller barangays
 Leads their own territories
Sultanate
o Governments of the Muslims
o Utilizes a Trial by Ordeal to determine the innocence of the accused where they must
face a number of ordeals for which they must pass
 Leaves justice to the gods
 Illogical and is based on faith
Pre-Colonial Religion
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ANITOISM – a form of animism
Believes in a hierarchy of gods with Bathala as the highest one
Bul-ul
o Carved anitos that protect crops/agriculture
Manunggul Jar
o Three personalities
 The dead
 The usher
 The boat
o Two burial periods/phases
 Coffin
 Anthropomorphic Jars (Manunggul Jars)
Babaylan – Priestesses
o Seen as the highest in the hierarchy of religion
Pre-colonial Education
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BAYBAYIN was utilized
On Muslim education,
Pre-colonial Arts
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Literature
o Written epics
o Oral stories/notions
Painting
o Body art – symbolizes one’s social stature
Architecture
o Adapts to their environment
o Lean-to
o Torogan
o Tausug House
Pre-colonial Technology
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Irrigation
Transportation
o Caracoa – warship
Pre-colonial Society
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Maginoo
o Ruling class
Timaua
o Free men
o Non-slaves but are loyal to the datu
Maharlika
o Men of wealth
o Renders military services to the datu
Alipin
o Namamahay
 Slaves with their own property/home
 Ones they’re down with service, they again turn into Timauas
o Sa Gigilid
 Permanent slaves
 Lives in the debtor’s house
Spanish Colonization
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1521 – Magellan arrived in the Philippines
o Because of the race between Spain and Portugal
It was when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, first governor-general, arrived in the country that the
colonization officially started
Magellan’s Expedition
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Spain vs Portugal
3 G’s
o God
 The kings of both countries are devoted to Christianism
 The Philippines was, at the moment, occupied by Islam
o Gold
 Aimed to collect riches and networks on countries rich on resources
 Every country in SEA are capable of producing spices
 Moluccas – spice island
o Glory
 Aimed to bring distinction to the colonizer’s kings
 Territorial spread for power
Magellan proposed to travel via the pacific route to prove the world is round
Chronology/diary of Antonio Pigafetta – First Voyage Around the World
Policies Implemented
Political
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Centralized Colonial Government
o We are under the king’s (Spain) power
o People were third class citizens – lower than those of Spain’s provinces
Theocratic system
o The church influences the laws and politics
o The Gomburza was executed when they went against this system
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Alcaldea
o Regular
 Peaceful, but not rich
 Alcalde-mayor
o Ayuntamiento
 Rich provincves
o Corregidor
 Corregimiento
 Magulo
Pueblo
o Led by a gobernadorcillo
Cabeza de Barangay
o Where Filipinos can only go to
o Tax collectors were Filipinos and were hated upon
 Divide and conquer
Polo y Servicio
o Forced labor for 15–60-year-old citizens
o Without salaries
Social Structure
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Principalia
o Spanish
o Ruling class
o Educated
o Insulares (Spaniards born in the Philippines) and Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain)
Ilustrados
o Educated Filipinos
o Where Rizal is classified
Indio
o Lowest class
Religion and Education
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Christianity
o Used to manipulate citizens
o Were abused by the colonizers to force their beliefs upon Filipinos
o Aimed to influences citizens and make them submit
The Spanish government was cautious in implementing education
o Which was then abused by the Americans as we are thought to as deprived of education
Economy
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Encomienda
o Spaniards were the rulers
o Prinicipialias
Bandala System
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o Spaniards buy items at low prices and sell those at higher prices
Tributo
o Tax system
o Cedulas stood as identification
Juan Luna’s Spolarium
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Signified the Filipino’s life at the colonial times
Filipinos went against each other while Spaniards were mere spectators
Marcelo H. Del Pilar at Tocsohan
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Used religious teachings to mock and imply the Spaniards’ wrongdoings
Ang Amain Namin, Ang Aba Ginoong Barya, at Ang Mga Utos ng Prayle
Propaganda and the Katipunan
Emilio Aguinaldo’s Revolutionary Government
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Aguinaldo replaced Bonifacio when he died
Aguinaldo’s strategies are always to flee from the enemy
Started the American occupation when Aguinaldo sided with the Americans, and the Treaty of
Paris was established
Meaning of History
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(Aristotle) A systematic account of a set of natural phenomena
o These phenomena must be significant in order to be recorded
History was reserved usually for accounts of phenomena (human affairs) in chronological order
Derived from the Greek word historia – knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation
Today it is defined as the account of the past of people/group of people through written
documents and historical evidence
o Personal accounts cannot pass as history
History is both OBJECTIVE and SUBJECTIVE
Historical Method
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Historical Method
o Process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past
Historiography
o How one describes historical events through historical method
o An imaginative reconstruction
Types of Historical Sources
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Primary Source
o Testimony of eyewitnesses, devices, or such that are present at the event being
investigated
o E.g., Printouts about a certain incident, artifacts or fossils
o May have been edited and revised
Original Source
o The manuscripts that explain how the sources are made or written
o E.g., Drafts written by the investigators in an incident
o In its absence, primary sources are the ones that are only examined
Secondary Source
o Indirect evidences that may have been based on the primary and original sources
Historical Criticism
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External
o Physical/Surface criticism
o Provenance
o Answers what, where, and when
o Originality
Internal
o Analyzes the meaning
o Corroboration
 Patterned if the source may well match information with other scholars
Problem of Authenticity
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External
o Forgery or Misleading Documents
 Used to bolster a false claim or title
 Fabrications may sometimes be due to less mercenary considerations
o Test of Authenticity
 Distinguishes which documents are genuine
o Garbled Documents
 Abundance of documents result to confusion on which one is genuine
o The Restoration of Text
o Science Auxiliary to History
Internal
o What is historical fact
o The interrogative hypothesis
o Quest for particular details of testimony
o Identification of an author
o Determination of approximate date
o Personal Equation
o Hearsay and secondary evidences
o Corroboration
o Certitude vs certainty
 Sources rather than the actual past
Questions for Historical Criticism
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What type of source is it
Who is the author
Who is the intended audience
Where is it from
Why is it published
What was happening at the time that it is published
What is the argument/message that it wanted to tell
Historical Distortion
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History can be revised as new information/data present themselves