Comprehensive Notes on Philippine History, Sources, Controversies, and Heritage

Unit 1 • Understanding History Using Primary & Secondary Sources

Lesson 1 • Meaning & Relevance of History

  • History derives from the Greek ἱστορία (historia) ⟶ “learning through inquiry.”

  • Modern disciplinary definitions:

    • Merriam‐Webster → chronological record of significant events “often including an explanation of their causes.”

    • American Historical Association → History is the never-ending process of seeking to understand the past and its meanings.

    • Aristotle → “systematic account of a set of natural phenomena.”

  • Filipino concept: Zeus Salazar’s Kasaysayan → salaysay na may saysay; centrality of language & culture in narrating a people’s unique identity.

  • Core premise: History ≠ the past; it is a reconstruction based on surviving evidence. Only a portion of the past is recorded and knowable.

    • Historical Interpretation: The process by which historians analyze and synthesize evidence to construct narratives, acknowledging that varying perspectives and methodologies can lead to different understandings of past events.

  • Relevance (Peter Stearns, 1998):

    • Moral understanding

    • Understanding people/societies

    • Provides identity

    • Essential for good citizenship

Repositories of Sources

  • PH: National Library (Filipiniana & Microfilm); UST Archives; National Archives of the PH (Spanish-era gov’t docs); Archdiocesan Archives of Manila; Manila Observatory; UP Main Library; Ateneo Rizal Library; DLSU Library; SIL PH, CICM Archives, local history centers.

  • Spain: Archivo General de Indias, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Museo Naval, Real Academia de la Historia, Biblioteca Nacional, etc.

  • Online Spanish portal: PARES (free digitized docs).

  • Mexico: Archivo General de la Nación.

  • UK: British Museum (docs seized 1762-64).

  • USA: NARA, Library of Congress, Newberry Ayer Collection, Lilly Library, Harvard, Stanford, Michigan; digital archives (archive.org, Project Gutenberg).

Classification of Sources

  • Primary → eye-witness testimony or direct sensory/mechanical record (diaries, artifacts, photos, birth certs, artworks, Dictaphone).

  • Secondary → created by non-eyewitnesses (textbooks, monographs, dictionaries).

  • Unwritten: archaeological (artifacts/ecofacts), oral (myths, songs), material (photos, audio, video).

Lesson 2 • Tests of Authenticity & Credibility

  • Method vs. Historiography:

    • Method = critical examination & analysis of survivals.

    • Historiography = synthesis & writing after critical testing.

  • External Criticism → establishes genuineness; roots out fabrications (e.g., Maragtas, negative revisionism).

  • Internal Criticism → tests credibility: competence, willingness, adequacy, corroboration.

  • Nine basic assumptions (e.g., primary more reliable than secondary; bias inevitable; independent corroboration raises credibility; milieu mismatch implies forgery).

  • Historical ethics: objectivity, proper citation, avoiding plagiarism, openness to contradicting sources, intellectual honesty.

Lesson 3 • Case Study: Tejeros Convention (1897)

  • Two memoirs compared:

    • Santiago Alvarez’ “Katipunan and the Revolution.”

    • Teodoro Agoncillo’s “Revolt of the Masses.”

  • Alvarez (Magdiwang captain-general) narrates inside view: quarrel, manipulated ballots, Tirona’s insult, Bonifacio’s annulment.

  • Agoncillo reconstructs via multiple sources; frames class & factional tensions; Bonifacio’s sense of betrayal.

  • Activity: apply external & internal criticism to decide which testimony carries greater weight.

Unit 2 • Spanish Colonization to Present

Lesson 1 • 16ᵗʰ-Century Chronicles

  • Antonio Pigafetta’s account: Magellan’s voyage, first circumnavigation. Critical manuscripts: Milan (Italian) & 3 French.

  • Key Philippine episodes: arrival Homonhon \to Mazaua 31\,Mar\,1521; blood compact with Colambu; mass in Cebu 14\,Apr; baptism 800 natives incl. Rajah Humabon (Fernando) & Juana; Battle of Mactan 27\,Apr – Magellan killed; treachery at banquet 26 Spaniards slain.

  • Juan de Plasencia’s “Customs of the Tagalogs” (1589): social classes (datu, maharlika, aliping namamahay, aliping sa guiguilir), marriage, dowry, inheritance, oral laws, belief system (Bathala, anitos, catalonan priests), burial rites.

Lesson 2 • Kartilya ng Katipunan

  • Authored by Emilio Jacinto; moral code (equality, work ethic, defense of oppressed, women as partners).

  • 14 teachings (+ initiation form). Influenced by masonry declarations.

Lesson 3 • Declaration of PH Independence 12\,Jun\,1898

  • Acta drafted by Ambrocio Rianzares Bautista, read at Kawit; flag unfurled, Marcha Nacional played by Banda San Francisco de Malabón.

  • 98 signatories incl. U.S. Colonel L.M. Johnson; Aguinaldo’s signature absent. Mabini deemed act “premature.”

Lesson 4 • Malolos Constitution & First Republic

  • Congress convened 15\,Sep\,1898; constitution promulgated 21\,Jan\,1899.

  • Key features: democratic-popular repub.; separation church & state; Bill of Rights; unicameral assembly; Council of Government; independent judiciary.

Lesson 5 • Using Visual Sources

  • Photographs, paintings, cartoons, documentaries = primary relics; require sourcing (subject, facts, audience, purpose, context).

  • Political cartoons (McCoy & Roces, 1985) expose colonial social critique: wage disparity (“Equal Work, Unequal Salary”), anti-Chinese & anti-Japanese sentiments, U.S. imperial imagery (Uncle Sam).

  • Paintings: Juan Luna’s “Spoliarium” (Allegory of Filipino oppression); Fernando Amorsolo’s “Planting Rice,” “Bombing of the Intendencia,” wartime realism.

Lesson 6 • Raiders of the Sulu Sea

  • 2008 documentary: Samal Balangingi, Ilanun, Tausug maritime raids \approx1750!−!1850; juanga & garay warships; Spanish expedition led by Gen. José Ruiz (1848).

  • Slave-raiding as economy & resistance to colonial encroachment.

Unit 3 • Historic Controversies

First Mass Site Debate

  • Contenders: Limasawa (So. Leyte) vs. Masao/Butuan.

  • NHI Gancayco Commission 1998, Legarda Committee 2009, Mojares Panel 2018 all affirm Pigafetta’s Mazaua =Limasawa (latitude 9\degree 40'; island, sailing distances).

  • Butuan scholars cite Albo, 1872 monument, tri-island view.

Cavite Mutiny 20\,Jan\,1872

  • Spanish accounts (Montero y Vidal, Gov. Izquierdo): large separatist conspiracy by native clergy.

  • Filipino account (T.H. Pardo de Tavera): small labor-tax revolt at Fort San Felipe inflamed by Izquierdo; used to persecute reformists; leads to execution of Gom-Bur-Za 17\,Feb\,1872.

Unit 4-A • Social, Political, Economic & Cultural Issues – General

Constitution-Making

  • Spanish Carta 1812 briefly applied.

  • Malolos 1899; 1935 Commonwealth; 1973 Martial-Law; 1987 post-EDSA (social justice as “heart” of charter).

  • RA 6657 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law 10\,Jun\,1988 – land redistribution & support services.

Indigenous Peoples

  • Definition (Cobo, 1983): groups with historical continuity to pre-colonial society & distinct culture/language.

  • PH: 110 ethnolinguistic groups; 14−17 million (\approx15\% populace).

  • Regions: 61\% Mindanao (Lumad, Moro), 33\% Cordillera (Igorot), remainder Visayas/Palawan (Mangyan, etc.).

  • IPRA RA\,8371 1997 → NCIP; four bundles of rights: ancestral domains, self-governance, social justice & human rights, cultural integrity.

Agrarian Reform History

  • Spanish encomienda → friar haciendas.

  • U.S. Acts: Land Registration 1902; Tenancy Act 1933.

  • Commonwealth: 1935 Constitution social justice.

  • Marcos PD 27 (rice & corn lands).

  • CARP RA\,6657; CARPER RA\,9700 2009.

Unit 4-B • Sectoral Adaptations

19ᵗʰ-Century Bridges (Eng/Arch)

  • Puente de España (1630 wooden → 1814 stone); Puente de Malagonlong (Tayabas, 1840s, 110 m length, 5 arches); Puente de Capricho (Majayjay, unfinished).

  • Construction under Obras Públicas 1866; masonry, argamasa mortar. Bridges enabled missionary reach, trade, road alignment; distribution of surnames carved by masons.

“Moro Problem” (Liberal Arts)

  • Spanish stigmatization of Muslim Filipinos (Moros) rooted in Reconquista mentality.

  • Bates Treaty 1899 then abrogated; Moro Province incorporated 1914.

  • Causes of unrest: land dispossession, education disparity, livelihood, health.

  • Studies (Filipinas Foundation 1971): 65\% Muslims identify first as Moro, distrust of Christian‐centric nation-state.

Claveria Decree of 21\,Nov\,1849 (CompSci/Acct/BA)

  • Governor Narciso Clavería’s Catalogo Alfabético de Apellidos: assign unique surnames for taxation, census, avoidance of incest.

  • Implementation: alcalde mayor distributes pages; barangay chooses; families adopt one surname; penalties 8 days jail + \text{P}3 fine for alteration.

  • Myth-busting: Spanish-sounding surnames ≠ Spanish blood; allocation often alphabetical per town.

School Curriculum Evolution (Education Majors)

  • Spanish era: colegios (secondary) & universidades (3 degrees: theology, law, medicine); 1863 Education Decree establishes primary schools.

  • American era: public school system, English medium, pensionados; Gabaldon Act \text{P}1,000,000 barrio schools.

  • Japanese era: Nihonggo, “Asia for Asians,” Tagalog promotion.

Unit 5 • Heritage & Local History

Local History Practice

  • Importance: fills gaps in national narrative, fosters identity, supports devolved governance.

  • Methods: sourcing (documents vs. non-documents), external & internal criticism, oral interviews; ethical scholarship (authentic, accurate, objective).

  • Perks: empowers communities, forms local museums/shrines, fuels tourism.

Heritage Concepts

  • UNESCO categories: Cultural (tangible movable/immovable/underwater & intangible), Natural, Heritage in Armed Conflict.

  • Philippine National Cultural Heritage Act RA\,10066 2009; cultural agencies (NCCA, NHCP, NMP, NAP, National Library, etc.); heritage cycle (understand → value → care → enjoy).

  • Example: “The Ruins,” Talisay, Bacolod—Don Mariano Lacson mansion 1900s burned by guerrillas 1942; now heritage tourism site.