MARK GERALD S.

GIGANTE
BSIT

HISTORICAL ANALYSIS: PHILIPPINE HISTORY

One of the most common problems in helping students to become thoughtful readers of
historical narrative is the compulsion students feel to find the one right answer, the one
essential fact, the one authoritative interpretation. “Am I on the right track?” “Is this what
you want?” they ask. Or, worse yet, they rush to closure, reporting back as self-evident
truths the facts or conclusions presented in the document or text.

Early times
Archeological evidence suggests that the Negritos, a broad term for indigenous people
of dark complexions, reached the Philippines around 25,000 years ago by a land bridge
from the Asian mainland. Waves of Indonesians followed by sea from 3,000 BC, and
Malays got a firm foothold around 200 BC, followed in later centuries by waves of
Chinese settlers. Most of today’s Filipinos have grown out of intermarriages between
indigenous and Malay people. Modern Filipino culture, including language and cuisine,
was heavily influenced by the Malays, who also introduced arts, literature, and a system
of government.
A few centuries before the Spanish reached the Philippines in the 16th century, Filipinos
involved in trade had also met Arabs and Hindus from India, while the expanding
Chinese population wielded considerable commerical power. Islam entered the
Philippines via Borneo in the late 14th century.

The colonial era

The Spanish first arrived in 1521, but did not gain control for several decades. Bands of
conquistadors, newly arrived from Mexico, fanned out from Intramuros to conquer
Luzon and the Visayas in the 1570s. They met ineffectual opposition, and soon
entrenched themselves as lords of great estates worked by the Filipinos. The friars who
accompanied them rapidly converted the population, building churches, schools, roads,
and bridges, while accumulating vast land holdings for the Catholic Church.

Independence
Centuries later, the Philippines were moving towards independence, with charismatic
nationalist leaders including Jose Rizal, executed in 1896. Yet after the defeat of Spain
in the war over Cuba, the Philippines were ceded to the USA. The Americans, defining
their role as one of trusteeship and tutelage, promoted rapid political, economic, and
social development. Then World War II saw the Japanese invade, and a brutal conflict
ensued. Independence was finally achieved in 1946.

The Arrival of the Spanish

The Philippines' recorded history began half a world away in a small, dusty town in
southwestern Spain. The Treaty of Tordesillas was inked in 1494, dividing between
Spain and Portugal the yet-unexplored world. Everything to the east of a line 370
leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic belonged to Portugal and
everything west was Spain’s.
The Portuguese set off to navigate Africa’s Cape of Good Hope in search of the riches
of the Spice Islands, while the Spanish headed across the vast Pacific. The captain of
Spain’s search was a Portuguese who had taken up the flag of Castile and the Spanish
name Hernando de Magallanes; to the English-speaking world, he is Ferdinand
Magellan.

First contact
Magellan took 109 days to cross the Pacific Ocean but missed every island in the vast
body of water, save the tiny atoll of Poka Puka and Guam. In 1521, he made landfall on
the island of Homonhon, off the southern tip of Samar in the Philippines. Calling the new
lands Lazarus, after the saint’s day on which he first sighted them, Magellan sailed on
through the Gulf of Leyte to Limasawa island. There he celebrated the first mass in
Philippines’ history.
Six weeks later, Magellan was dead. He had sailed to the island of Cebu, where he
Christianized the local rajah (king) and his followers. However, a chieftain of Mactan –
the island where Cebu’s international airport now sits – rebelled against the Rajah of
Cebu and his foreign guests. Chieftain Lapu Lapu and his 2,000 men defended their
island against 48 armor-clad Spaniards in April 1521. A white obelisk today marks the
spot where Magellan was slain.

Gaining control
It was not until 1565 that Spain, under Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, gained a foothold in
Cebu. Over the next few years, the Spanish pushed northward, defeating Muslim
chieftain Sulayman and taking over his fortress of Maynilad, facing what is now Manila
Bay. Here, in 1571, Legazpi built the Spanish walled city of Intramuros.
Bands of conquistadors, newly arrived from Mexico, fanned out from Intramuros to
conquer Luzon and the Visayas. They met ineffectual opposition, and soon entrenched
themselves as lords of great estates worked by the natives, called indios, in the manner
as applied to Mexican “Indians.” The friars who accompanied them rapidly converted
the population, building churches, schools, roads, and bridges, while accumulating vast
land holdings for the Catholic Church.

Philippines historical timeline

c.40,000 BC
Migrants cross land bridge from Asian mainland and settle in the archipelago.

AD 900
Chinese establish coastal trading posts over the next 300 years.

late 14th century

Muslim clergy start to bring Islam to the Philippines from Indonesia and Malaya.
1521
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan lands on Cebu and claims the region for Spain. Lapu Lapu
(Rajah Cilapulapu), in defending his island of Mactan, slays Magellan.

1543
Next Spanish expedition led by Ruy de Villalobos lands in Mindanao. He names the
archipelago “Filipinas,” after Crown Prince Felipe II.

1872
Uprising in Cavite, south of Manila. Spain executes Filipino priests Jose Burgos,
Mariano Gomez, and Jacinto Zamora, martyrs to the cause of nationalism.

1892
Jose Rizal founds La Liga Filipina, is arrested and exiled to Dapitan, Mindanao. Andres
Bonifacio founds the Katipunan with aim to revolt.

1896
Spanish colonists imprison and kill hundreds of Filipinos in Manila. Bonifacio and the
Katipunan launch the Philippine revolution. Rizal is executed.

1898
The United States defeats Spain in war. Treaty between the United States and Spain
grants the US authority over the Philippines.

1941-2
Japanese land on Luzon, overrun Manila. Roosevelt rejects Philippine neutrality. 

1944
MacArthur and Osmeña land in Leyte and begin the Allied effort to retake the
archipelago.

1945
Allies recapture Manila, which is subject to intense bombardment. Much of the city is
destroyed.

1946
On July 4, the Philippines is granted independence. 

1972–81
Martial law imposed. President Marcos accumulates a vast fortune. His wife, Imelda,
dominates Manila government.

1984
“Parliament of the street” holds frequent anti-Marcos demonstrations. Spiraling
economic crises.
1986
Violence escalates before elections, at least 30 are killed on election day. Election
rigging enrages Filipinos and millions join in uprising against Marcos regime. On
February 26, Marcoses flee. Corazon Aquino elected to presidency. New constitution
drafted. 

1991
Dramatic eruption of Mt Pinatubo. Americans pack up and leave the Philippines.

1992
Fidel Ramos, Aquino’s defense secretary and a strong ally who backed her during coup
attempts, wins presidential election. His pragmatic leadership defies traditional
perceptions of inept Filipino government. Foreign investors return.

2002
US military joins the Philippines in large-scale exercises in the southern Philippines to
rescue kidnapped American tourists.

2010
Benigno Aquino III, son of former president Corazon Aquino, wins the presidential race;
a year later his government holds landmark talks with Muslim rebels.

2012
China and the Philippines clash over Scarborough Shoal in the contested South China
Sea, seeding a high-level diplomatic dispute. Breakthrough ceasefire and agreement in
the long-running dispute with separatists in the south.