SOME CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Theodoro A. Agoncillo

 Philippine history is no different from other international history

 Historical controversies usually take the form of difference
interpretation, but in some cases they occur because of differences in
documentary sources

DISCOVERED / REDISCOVERED THE PHILIPPINES BY

MAGELLAN OR NOT.

 Acdng to archaeologists and prehistorians, Philippines already had

the relations with other countries of Asia such as china, the present
Indonesia, and even cochin-china centuries before Magellan was
born.this is accepted as a historical fact, then Magellan could not
have discovered something which is already known To some
countries of Asia.
 Some historians who say that the Philippine was rediscovered by
Magellan.
 Pigafetta’s errors in dating: he did not know the existence of what is
known as the imaginary International Date Line.
 When Magellan’s ship passed the international dateline somewhere
in the pacific , pigafetta should have added one day on the calendar
 Had he done so, his march 16 would have been March 17 and all his
other dates from the time the victoria sailed from the Philippines on its
return voyage to Spain would have been in order.
 THE THREE PRIESTS
 They are not heroes but martyrs
 Gomez, contributed a modest sum for the continuation of the
campaign to secularize the perishes. The money was intended not for
the welfare of the people as a whole but for the secularization of the
parishes in which he and others like him- the seculars- would be the
sole beneficiaries.
 Burgos, on the other hand , wrote some articles defending the
seculars- Spaniards and natives- aginst the vicious attacks of the
regulars. He did not defend the natives against the abuses and
injustices of the Spaniards, instead he defend the secular priests.
 Zamora was mistakenly arrested. Instead of arresting joze Zamora ,
they arrested jacinto Zamora by mistake. Jacinto Zamora is a
gambler who was completely innocentof any action more serious than
playing cards. Actually , among the 3 priests, he was the least
qualified to become a hero.
 Among the 3 priests, gomez is the obly one who remained calm while
the rest wept like children and the latter.
 Burgos , who was more Spaniards than native, whowed a faltering
spirit and almost collapsed before his execution.
 Accdng to the letter that rizal’s wrote for mariano ponce (april 18 ,
1889) deplored burgos’s behaviour efoe his executions, saying that is
burgos had shown courage of gomez, the Filipinos would have been
different from what they are today.
 Rizal who admired he 3 priests- his el filibusterismi having been
dedicated to their memory- did not consider them as a heroes but a
martyrs.
 PHILIPPINE REFORM/
THEREVOLUTION

 One comes across passages stating that the revolutionary movement

and ultimately the revolution itself was the continuation of the reform
movement.
 Putting it in another way, the revolution of 1896 was allegedly the
result of the writings of the reformists like rizal,del pilar, lopez jaena,
and others.
 Revolution was the child or offspring of the reform movement is to
misconstrue the ideology of both movements.
 The reform movement was born of the desire of fifipino patriots to
introduce reforms in the administration of the philippines.(the thrust of
the movement was to make the philippines as the province of spain.)
 The reformists are not anti-spaniards but anti-friar.
 The revolutionary movement was the initiated precisely because of
the failure of the reform movement.
 The revolutionary ideology was opposite that of the reform
movement, to wit, the separation of the philippines from Spain
through force.
 Revolutionists are anti-Spaniards , not merely anti-friar. They never
accepted the reformist’s view that there could be significant reforms
in the Spanish contexts.
 Bonifacio and jacinto, as the spokesmen of the revolutionary
movement, gave up of the hope of the alleviation of the Filipinos from
Spanish injustices and brutality.
 One has only to read bonifacio’s ang dapat mabatid ng mga tagalog-
katapusang hibik ng pilipinas- ang mga cazadores and tapunan ng
lingap. And jacinto’s sa mga kababayan- pahayag and liwanag at
dilim.to realize the uncompromising polarity btween them and the
reformists.
 The common ground of the 2 groups, it was their patriotism and
nationalism.
 They both loved their country with same deep passion that made
them challenge, in their own way, the Spanish might.but their
nationalism in the the other hand, differed in that while the one sought
the welfare of the country through peaceful means, the other sought it
through blood and tears. The one is conservative, the other one is
radical.
 When it comes to their ideology and instruments, the one sees
nothing but polarity which makes one classify them as illustrado or
elite movement and the mass movement respectively.
 Historical facts and elementary logic do not justify the widely held
belief that the revolutionary movement was a continuation or the
offspring of the reform movement.

BIRTH OF APOLINARIO MABINI

 Mabini’s birthday used to be celebrated at tanuan, batangas on July
22, but recently the governor of the province, after listening to some
historical writers, changed it to July 23.
 July 23 was the day that he was baptized.but he was born in july
 Accdng to the proponents of the July 23 date, mabini himself while in
guam wrote to an American stating that he was born on July 22
 The catholic calendar for the year of mabini’s birth, shows that the
name given for july is apolinario. therefore , so the argument went,
the correct date of mabini’s birth is July
 Mabini’s letter to an American wherein he stated that he was born on
July does not have the authority of hi birth certificate. His testimony is
hearsay and cannot compete euth his birth certificate which he
himself presented to the University of Sto. Tomas when he enrolled
there to take up law.
 MUSLIMS OF SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES
 Accdng to some writers, the Muslims of southern Philippines were not
conquered by the Spaniards because they had ha supra-barangay
governmental structure which makes them a cohesive people.
 On the other hand, the non-Muslims of Luzon and the bisayas were
fragmented and so were too weak to offer any affective resistance
against the conquistadores.
 Accdng to Dr. Samuel k. tan, who speaks two Muslims languages
and is a tausug to boot, accdng to him, Muslims of southern
Philippines never have been a cohesive people. Nor is the so-called
Islamic consciousness present among the Muslims.
 There is absolutely no evidence to sustain these speculations.
 The fact that the Spaniards failed o conquered the Muslims
permanently is no evidence of their alleged Islamic consciousness
 The historical truth is that the Spaniards failed to conquer the
Muslims because:
o first, they don’t have the man-power to carry on a sustained
campaign against the Muslims.
o Second, the hostility of the Portuguese’s and the dutch in the
south was so real that the Spaniards in the Philippines could
not afford to fight them in the southern areas of the Philippines
without leaving manila, the heart of the Spanish colony,
unguarded
o Third, the chines threat from the north (Formosa) compelled the
Spaniards not to diffuse their inadequate force by fighting not
only the Muslims but also the Portuguese, the Dutch, the
Chinese, and the natives in Luzon and the bisayas.
SUMMARIZING THE REASONS WHY THERE ARE CONTROVERSIAL/
ISSUES IN ANY NATIONAL HISTORY

 The historical controversies at least in our country, arise because:

1. Historians or historical writers differ in their interpretation of a given
event
2. Historians have different sources of information
3. Historians ,being human, exercise their right of choice of materials
to be used and , as a consequences, they differ not only in their
interpretation but in presentation of the facts and emphasis.
 The historical controversies are either desirable or undesirable; it is simply
inevitable.
 Face the historical controversies with intelligence and insight and exercise
our right to disagree- but to disagree with reason and grace.
 Posterity will be better judge of our interpretations than out
contemporaries because it is enjoys the supreme advantage of perspective.