Analyzing Primary Sources in Philippine History

GHIST
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the module, you should be able
to:
1. Evaluate primary sources for their credibility,
authenticity, and provenance;
2. Analyze the context, content, and

perspective of different kinds of primary
sources;
3. Determine the contribution of different kinds

of primary sources in understanding Philippine
history;
4. Develop critical and analytical skills with

exposure to primary sources;
5. Demonstrate the ability to use primary

sources to argue in favor or against a
particular issue;
6. Effectively communicate, using various

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE techniques and genres, their historical analysis
of particular event or issue that could help
HISTORY others understand the chosen topic;
7. Propose recommendations/solutions to
present-day problems based on their
understanding of root causes and their
anticipation of future scenarios; and
8. Manifest interest in local history and concern

in promoting and preserving our country’s
national patrimony and cultural heritage .
Property of and for the exclusive use of SLU. Reproduction, storing in a retrieval system, distributing, uploading or posting online, or transmitting in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 1
“It is in knowing how to put questions to a
document and knowing what questions to put that
the historian’s point of view makes a difference.”
- John Schumacher (1996), The Making of a Nation, Essays
on Nineteenth-Century Filipino Nationalism
COURSE INTRODUCTION
This module follows closely the learning objectives set in the recommended syllabus from
the Commission on Higher Education. The new GE course for learning history emphasizes
the importance of studying history from primary sources. Thus, the students will be exposed
to sources from eyewitnesses or those who have a direct participation to the historical
event under study. A scholarly reading of primary sources however must be guided by
critique, i.e., external and internal criticism.
External criticism or contextual analysis generally focuses on information about the author
and the social milieu at the time that the material was made. The rationale for doing so is
to gain a wider understanding of the author’s perspective and intentions for writing about
the event. Internal criticism on the other hand, or text analysis, looks into the main
argument of the author and also identifies the biases that may have been explicitly or
implicitly expressed.
The course is divided into themes that are arranged systematically to develop the
appreciation and critical understanding of historical events. The first set of topics is a
discussion on the different source materials for history with emphasis to the use of primary
sources. Consequently, the students will be trained how to analyze primary sources;
externally and internally.
After an intensive practice of context and text analysis of primary sources, the students will
examine some controversies or debates in Philippine history. Sources that have conflicting
accounts of the same event will be examined and compared.
This course also includes a discussion of issues on mandated topics which are: the Agrarian
Reform Policies; the different constitutions of the Philippines (1899, 1935, 1973, and 1987);
and Taxation. There are also special topics to cover other social, political, and cultural
issues in Philippine history.
Finally, as a culmination of the course, the students will be tasked to submit and or present
an output which will show a critical evaluation and promotion of local history.
This module outlines the different topics and learning objectives for every topic. Full texts of
the required readings have been incorporated in this module for the perusal of the
students. An activity follows every lesson. The worksheets are for students to have a written
output evidencing their comprehension of the reading.
MODULE 1: Analysis of Primary Sources
The picture to the left is an artifact popularly known as

the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. It was dated 900 CE
(as inscribed) and is the earliest known written document
in Philippine History. Decoded by Dutch anthropologist
Antoon Postma in 1992, the inscription written in Kawi
script tells of a cancellation of debt.
As a side note, the picture on the cover of this module is

the Golden Tara or the Agusan image found in 1917at
Agusan del Sur. It is a 21 karat gold statuette dating
th th
between the 9 and 10 centuries. It is currently housed
in the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
Unit 1: Historical Method: Typologies and Repositories of Primary and Secondary

Sources; Internal and External Criticism
At the end of this unit, the students must be able to :

1. define the meaning and relevance of history
2. differentiate between primary and secondary sources; written and unwritten sources;
external and internal analysis.
Engage
Complete the following sentences:
1. History is ___________________________________________________________________________
2. Studying History is important because _______________________________________________
3. Historical sources come from _______________________________________________________
Explore
The following are examples of historical sources. Try to identify whether they are primary or
secondary sources. Put a check mark on the corresponding column.
Source Primary Secondary

1. Relics
2. Autobiography
3. Biography
4. Book review
5. Diary
6. Encyclopedia
7. History Book
8. Journal Article
9. Oral history
10. Recording
Explain
History simply put is the study of past events. However, it can be stated that the relevance
of studying history goes beyond simple and is not confined within the said discipline, albeit,
its importance is viewed in the light of providing significant information as to how present-
day challenges in various areas of human experience may be addressed. For instance,
study of history in the context of medicine aids in providing information about trends in
diseases, illnesses, and their treatments; what went wrong and what worked. History has
also aided engineering and architecture with information on the progress of building
structures given a specific natural and social context. The list for outlining the practical uses
of history in other domains goes on and so we delve on a different kind of purpose, that of
studying history for nation building.
Historians Renato Constantino and Fr. John N. Schumacher, SJ each have articulated a
need for rewriting history, particularly a people’s history. Renato Constantino wrote his
book with the objective of writing a history that comes from the point of view of the
Filipinos, especially the grassroots. The essay of John Schumacher on the other hand,
examines that contention of Renato Constantino. Schumacher agreed on the point of
writing a people’s history but for him, he believes that other lenses or frameworks be used in
studying history.
Indeed, the major lapse of our nation’s history is the heavy influence of American colonial
historiography and the Hispanocentric stance of historical resources. These produced a
Philippine History that focused on the Spanish Rule, the Revolutionary period, and the
American colonial era. In this area even, there were misrepresentations as according to
Schumacher as the responses coming from different provinces were not represented. There
is also a heavy historical discourse on the deeds of our recognized heroes but Constantino
takes a precarious stance toward this arguing that the so-called historical deeds lacked
critical evaluation.
And so, the task at hand is to revisit our history with the objective of clarifying
misconceptions, correcting misrepresentations, focusing on the collective struggles of the
people and showing the Filipino as also the primary agents of history.
To enrich the learning of history at present, a different approach is presented, one that
engages the learner with history itself to be able to examine the sources of history with
critical eyes and be able to connect an event and to its context.
Elaborate
This course as aforementioned provides a learning experience of history where you
the learners are faced with the historical documents with which you can make objective
analyses and interpretations that are context appropriate. But to reiterate, the kind of
historical sources that will be studied are primary ones.
Simply put, historical sources may be classified as either primary or secondary.

Primary sources are first hand or direct evidences to an event. These sources were made
specifically during the time period being examined. They can be eyewitness accounts,
records, photographs, original documents to name a few. Secondary sources on the other
hand are already interpretations of the primary source. Examples include journal articles,
textbooks, and the like.
Historical sources may also be written and unwritten. Written sources include literary
works, diplomatic or legal documents, and social documents. Unwritten sources pertain to
artifacts and oral testimonies. Now that you have an idea about these, let us test your
understanding.
Evaluate
Unit Quiz (2 parts)
Part 1. Earlier on, you classified these whether they are primary or secondary sources. Now,
classify the same whether they are written or unwritten. Put a check mark on the
corresponding column
Source Written Unwritten

1. Relics
2. Autobiography
3. Biography
4. Book review
5. Diary
6. Encyclopedia
7. History Book
8. Journal Article
9. Oral history
10. Recording
Part 2.
Name one example to each type of source without mentioning those stated above or in
the explanatory text.
1. Primary Source
2. Secondary Source
3. Literary source
4. Diplomatic/legal source
5. Social document
6. Artifacts
7. oral/testimonial
References:
Constantino, R. (1974), A Past Revisited (Pre-Spanish-1941), pp. 3-11
Schumacher, J. N. (1996). The Making of a Nation, Essays on Nineteenth-Century Filipino

Nationalism. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Press pp.7-15
Howell, M. and Prevenier, W. (2001). From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical

Methods, pp. 17-27
Unit 2: Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources; Identification
of the Historical Importance of the Text; and Examination of the Author’s Main
Argument and Point of View
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit, the students must be able to:
1. perform content and contextual analysis on selected primary sources
2. identify the historical importance of the text
This section focuses on developing the skill of analysing primary sources in history. As
mentioned in the introduction portion, learners of history will experience examining a
historical document with the application of content and context analysis. Content analysis
entails studying the text, practically outlining all information that the document says. For
example place names and person’s names, dates, events, and the manifest message.
Context analysis on the other hand involves studying the background of the author, the
situation or environment during that time, and the purpose for the creation of the
document. Reflective insights on any possible biases that may appear on the document
must also be pointed out to give the document a more critical evaluation. Finally, it is also
worthwhile to elucidate the historical significance of the document.
The following units contain some primary historical sources. After reading each
historical document, a template is provided for performing content and contextual
analysis. Please carefully answer these worksheets.
Unit 2.1 Excerpt from Antonio Pigafetta, Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo, in ”, in E.H.
Blair and J.A. Robertson. The Philippine Islands , vol XXXIII, pp. 175-187
The Battle of Mactan, Anonymous painting

By Nmcast at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10357771
Engage
Check if you agree or disagree
Agree Disagree
1. Lapu-Lapu is the first hero of the Philippines
2. Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines
3. The natives of pre-colonial Philippines welcomed the Spaniards
4. Ferdinand Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the world
5. The Spaniards came to the Philippines on purpose
Explore
Excerpt from Antonio Pigafetta’s, Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo

in, in E.H. Blair and J.A. Robertson. The Philippine Islands , vol XXXIII, pp. 175-187
On Friday, April twenty-six, Zula, a chief of the island of Matan, sent one of his sons to
present two goats to the captain-general, and to say that he would send him all that he
had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the other chief
Cilapulapu, who refused to obey the king of Spagnia. He requested the captain to send
him only one boatload of men on the next night, so that they might help him and fight
against the other chief. The captain-general decided to go thither with three boatloads.
We begged him repeatedly not to go, but he, like a good shepherd, refused to abandon
his flock. At midnight, sixty men of us set out armed with corselets and helmets, together
with the Christian king, the prince, some of the chief men, and twenty or thirty balanguais.
We reached Matan three hours before dawn. The captain did not wish to fight then, but
sent a message to the natives by the Moro to the effect that if they would obey the king of
Spagnia, recognize the Christian king as their sovereign, and pay us our tribute, he would
be their friend; but that if they wished otherwise, they should wait to see how our lances
wounded. They replied that if we had lances they had lances of bamboo and stakes
hardened with fire. [They asked us] not to proceed to attack them at once, but to wait
until morning, so that they might have more men. They said that in order to induce us to go
in search of them; for they had dug certain pitholes between the houses in order that we
might fall into them. When morning came forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our
thighs, and walked through water for more than two crossbow flights before we could
reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the
water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached
land, those men had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand
five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud
cries, two divisions on our flanks and the other on our front. When the captain saw that, he
formed us into two divisions, and thus did we begin to fight. The musketeers and
crossbowmen shot from a distance for about a half hour, but uselessly; for the shots only
passed through the shields which were made of thin wood and the arms [of the bearers].
The captain cried to them, " Cease firing! cease firing l" but his order was not at all heeded.
When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no purpose, crying out they
determined to stand firm, but they redoubled their shouts. When our muskets were
discharged, the natives would never stand still, but leaped hither and thither, covering
themselves with their shields. They shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many bamboo
spears (some of them tipped with iron) at the captain-general, besides pointed stakes
hardened with fire, stones, and mud, that we could scarcely defend ourselves. Seeing that,
the captain-general sent some men to burn their houses in order to terrify them. When they
saw their houses burning, they were roused to greater fury. Two of our men were killed near
the houses, while we burned twenty or thirty houses. So many of them charged down upon
us that they shot the captain through the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account,
he ordered us to retire slowly, but the men took to flight, except six or eight of us who
remained with the captain. The natives shot only at our legs, for the latter were bare; and
so many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us, that we could offer no
resistance. The mortars in the boats could not aid us as they were too far away. So we
continued to retire for more than a good crossbow flight from the shore always fighting up
to our knees in the water. The natives continued to pursue us, and picking up the same
spear four or six times, hurled it at us again and again. Recognizing the captain, so many
turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice, but he always stood
firmly like a good knight, together with some others. Thus did we fight for more than one
hour, refusing to retire farther. An Indian hurled a bamboo spear into the captain's face,
but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian's body. Then,
trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been
wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all hurled
themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass, which
resembles a scimitar, only being larger. That caused the captain to fall face downward,
when immediately they rushed upon him with iron and bamboo spears and with their
cutlasses, until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they
wounded him, he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats.
Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats,
which were already pulling off. The Christian king would have aided us, but the captain
charged him before we landed, not to leave his balanghai, but to stay to see how we
fought. When the king learned that the captain was dead, he wept. Had it not been for
that unfortunate captain, not a single one of us would have been saved in the boats, for
while he was fighting the others retired to the boats. I hope through [the efforts of] your
most illustrious Lordship that the fame of so noble a captain will not become effaced in our
times. Among the other virtues which he possessed, he was more constant than ever any
one else in the greatest of adversity. He endured hunger better than all the others, and
more accurately than any man in the world did he understand sea charts and navigation.
And that this was the truth was seen openly, for no other had had so much natural talent
nor the boldness to learn how to circumnavigate the world, as he had almost done. That
battle was fought on Saturday, April twenty-seven, I52I. The captain desired to fight on
Saturday, because it was the day especially holy to him. Eight of our men were killed with
him in that battle, and four Indians, who had become Christians and who had come
afterward to aid us were killed by the mortars of the boats. Of the enemy, only fifteen were
killed, while many of us were wounded. In the afternoon the Christian king sent a message
with our consent to the people of Matan, to the effect that if they would give us the
captain and the other men who had been killed, we would give them as much
merchandise as they wished. They answered that they would not give up such a man, as
we imagined [they would do], and that they would not give him for all the riches in the
world, but that they intended to keep him as a memorial. On Saturday, the day on which
the captain was killed, the four men who had remained in the city to trade, had our
merchandise carried to the ships. Then we chose two commanders, namely, Duarte
Barboza, a Portuguese and a relative of the captain, and Johan Seranno, a Spaniard. As
our interpreter, Henrich by name, was wounded slightly, he would not go ashore any more
to attend to our necessary affairs, but always kept his bed. On that account, Duarte
Barboza, the commander of the flagship, cried out to him and told him, that although his
master, the captain, was dead, he was not therefore free; on the contrary he [i.e.,
Barboza] would see to it that when we should reach Espagnia, he should still be the slave
of Donia Beatrice, the wife of the captain-general. And threatening the slave that if he did
go ashore, he would be flogged, the latter arose, and, feigning to take no heed to those
words, went ashore to tell the Christian king that we were about to leave very soon, but
that if he would follow his advice, he could gain the ships and all our merchandise.
Accordingly they arranged a plot, and the slave returned to the ship, where he showed
that he was more cunning than before. On Wednesday morning, the first of May, the
Christian king sent word to the commanders that the jewels which he had promised to
send to the king of Spagnia were ready, and that he begged them and their other
companions to come to dine with him that morning, when he would give them the jewels.
Twenty-four men went ashore, among whom was our astrologer, San Martin de Sivilla. I
could not go because I was all swollen up by a wound from a poisoned arrow which I had
received in my face. Jovan Carvaio and the constable returned, and told us that they
saw the man who had been cured by a miracle take the priest to his house. Consequently,
they had left that place, because they suspected some evil. Scarcely had they spoken
those words when we heard loud cries and lamentations. We immediately weighed
anchor and discharging many mortars into the houses, drew in nearer to the shore. While
thus discharging [our pieces] we saw Johan Seranno in his shirt bound and wounded,
crying to us not to fire any more, for the natives would killhim. We asked him whether all the
others and the interpreter were dead. He said that they were all dead except the
interpreter. He begged us earnestly to redeem him with some of the merchandise; but
Johan Carvaio, his boon companion, [and others] would not allow the boat to go ashore
so that they might remain masters of the ships. But although Johan Serrano weeping asked
us not to set sail so quickly, for they would kill him, and said that he prayed God to ask his
soul of Johan Carvaio, his comrade, in the day of judgment, we immediately departed. I
do not know whether he is dead or alive.
Explain
The assigned reading material is an excerpt from the work of Antonio Pigafetta, Primo
Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo, which was published sometime in the 1550s, roughly two
decades after his death. The entire work documents the Magellan expedition of 1519-1522
which originally was intended to locate the Westward route to the Spice Islands. The
excerpt narrates, among others, the battle of Mactan upto the escape of the Spanish
survivors.
Elaborate
Antonio Pigafetta, born in Italy in 1491, served in Magellan’s expedition in
1519 as the chronicler. He recorded the events that transpired during the
expedition even after the death of the Captain in 1521. He was fortunate to be one
of the 18 men to return to Spain aboard the ship Victoria captained by Juan
Sebastián Elcano in 1522. After the voyage, he related his experiences through the
report Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo which were distributed to the European
nobility. The report was published posthumously (Pigafetta died in 1531) in the 1550s
by Italian historian Giovanni Battista Ramusio. Originally written in Italian, the
document in subsequent publications has been translated. The excerpt above was
the translation of James Alexander Robertson.
Evaluate
For this assessment, apply content and context analysis on the eyewitness
account of the Battle of Mactan by Pigafetta. You are encouraged to use other
references to be able to answer the following worksheet. Write your answer on the
space provided.
Context Analysis
Title of the document where the selected text came from :

_____________________________________________________________________________
Original language of the document:___________________________________________
Language used in Translation: _______________________________________________
Translator : ____________________________________________________
Author’s name: _______________________________________________________________
Birth (Date and Place):_______________________Death________________________________
Relevant information about the author that would link the author to the primary source:
Date of writing and/or Publication of the original document:
Author’s Purpose for writing the document
What was happening in history around the time that the document was written?
Who was the intended audience of the document?
Content Analysis
What is the main topic of, the selected text analyzed?
Who were the groups or people mentioned?
What were the places mentioned?
What were the key topics discussed? Enumerate in numbered or bullet form.
If there are any, what are the personal biases, suspected errors or misleading statements
of the author that showed up in the document? Name at least 2.
What do you think is the historical significance of this document?
Unit 2.2 Juan de Plasencia, Customs of the Tagalogs
Source: Blair, Emma Helen, ed. d.1911. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by
early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of
the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest
relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 7]
Blair, Emma Helen, ed. d.1911. pp. 173-196
16th century Tagalog royalty
Source: Boxer Codex -

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/metsnav/common/navigate.do?pn=116&size=screen&oid=VAB8326, Public
Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18056369
Engage
Customs are ever evolving. We do not expect that a certain way of life will be
constant, resistant to change. You may have heard stories from your elders how their life
ways were so different from what you are presently experiencing. Try to recall some of
those old rules, as old as you can get and write them below. Name one old rule for each
realm of human experience.
On Marriage:
On Debt:
On Inheritance:
Explore
The reading that follows is the first of the two part report by Juan de Plasencia and
this particular section was recognized as the first Civil Code of the Philippines. Originally
written in Spanish, this document was translated into English by Frederic w. Morrison.
Customs of the Tagalogs
(TWO RELATIONS BY JUAN DE PLASENCIA, O.S.F.)
After receiving your Lordship's letter, I wished to reply immediately; but I postponed my
answer in order that I might first thoroughly inform myself in regard to your request, and to
avoid discussing the conflicting reports of the Indians, who are wont to tell what suits their
purpose. Therefore, to this end, I collected Indians from different districts—old men, and
those of most capacity, all known to me; and from them I have obtained the simple truth,
after weeding out much foolishness, in regard to their government, administration of
justice, inheritances, slaves, and dowries. It is as follows:
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
This people always had chiefs, called by them datos, who governed them and were
captains in their wars, and whom they obeyed and reverenced. The subject who
committed any offense against them, or spoke but a word to their wives and children, was
severely punished.
These chiefs ruled over but few people; sometimes as many as a hundred houses,
sometimes even less than thirty. This tribal gathering is called in Tagalo a barangay. It was
inferred that the reason for giving themselves this name arose from the fact (as they are
classed, by their language, among the Malay nations) that when they came to this land,
the head of the barangay, which is a boat, thus called—as is discussed at length in the first
chapter of the first ten chapters—became a dato. And so, even at the present day, it is
ascertained that this barangay in its origin was a family of parents and children, relations
and slaves. There were many of these barangays in each town, or, at least, on account of
wars, they did not settle far from one another. They were not, however, subject to one
another, except in friendship and relationship. The chiefs, in their various wars, helped one
another with their respective barangays.
In addition to the chiefs, who corresponded to our knights, there were three castes: nobles,
commoners, and slaves. The nobles were the free-born whom they call maharlica. They did
not pay tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at their own expense.
The chief offered them beforehand a feast, and afterward they divided the spoils.
Moreover, when the dato went upon the water those whom he summoned rowed for him.
If he built a house, they helped him, and had to be fed for it. The same was true when the
whole barangay went to clear up his lands for tillage. The lands which they inhabited were
divided among the whole barangay, especially the irrigated portion, and thus each one
knew his own. No one belonging to another barangay would cultivate them unless after
purchase or inheritance. The lands on the tingues, or mountain-ridges, are not divided, but
owned in common by the barangay. Consequently, at the time of the rice harvest, any
individual of any particular barangay, although he may have come from some other
village, if he commences to clear any land may sow it, and no one can compel him to
abandon it. There are some villages (as, for example, Pila de la Laguna) in which these
nobles, or maharlicas, paid annually to the dato a hundred gantas of rice. The reason of
this was that, at the time of their settlement there, another chief occupied the lands, which
the new chief, upon his arrival, bought with his own gold; and therefore the members of his
barangay paid him for the arable land, and he divided it, among those whom he saw fit to
reward. But now, since the advent of the Spaniards, it is not so divided.
The chiefs in some villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and sections of the
rivers for markets. At these no one could fish, or trade in the markets, without paying for the
privilege, unless he belonged to the chief's barangay or village.
The commoners are called aliping namamahay. They are married, and serve their master,
whether he be a dato or not, with half of their cultivated lands, as was agreed upon in the
beginning. They accompanied him whenever he went beyond the island, and rowed for
him. They live in their own houses, and are lords of their property and gold. Their children
inherit it, and enjoy their property and lands. The children, then, enjoy the rank of their
fathers, and they cannot be made slaves (sa guiguilir) nor can either parents or children be
sold. If they should fall by inheritance into the hands of a son of their master who was going
to dwell in another village, they could not be taken from their own village and carried with
him; but they would remain in their native village, doing service there and cultivating the
sowed lands.
The slaves are called aliping sa guiguilir. They serve their master in his house and on his
cultivated lands, and may be sold. The master grants them, should he see fit, and providing
that he has profited through their industry, a portion of their harvests, so that they may work
faithfully. For these reasons, servants who are born in the house of their master are rarely, if
ever, sold. That is the lot of captives in war, and of those brought up in the harvest fields.
Those to whom a debt was owed transferred the debt to another, thereby themselves
making a profit, and reducing the wretched debtors to a slavery which was not their
natural lot. If any person among those who were made slaves (sa guiguilir)—through war,
by the trade of goldsmith, or otherwise—happened to possess any gold beyond the sum
that he had to give his master, he ransomed himself, becoming thus a namamahay, or
what we call a commoner. The price of this ransom was never less than five taels, and from
that upwards; and if he gave ten or more taels, as they might agree, he became wholly
free. An amusing ceremony accompanied this custom. After having divided all the trinkets
which the slave possessed, if he maintained a house of his own, they divided even the pots
and jars, and if an odd one of these remained, they broke it; and if a piece of cloth were
left, they parted it in the middle.
The difference between the aliping namamahay and the aliping sa guiguilir, should be
noted; for, by a confusion of the two terms, many have been classed as slaves who really
are not. The Indians seeing that the alcaldes-mayor do not understand this, have adopted
the custom of taking away the children of the aliping namamahay, making use of them as
they would of the aliping sa guiguilir, as servants in their households, which is illegal, and if
the aliping namamahay should appeal to justice, it is proved that he is an aliping as well as
his father and mother before him and no reservation is made as to whether he is aliping
namamahay or atiping sa guiguilir. He is at once considered an alipin, without further
declaration. In this way he becomes a sa guiguilir, and is even sold. Consequently, the
alcaldes-mayor should be instructed to ascertain, when anyone asks for his alipin, to which
class he belongs, and to have the answer put in the document that they give him.
In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the father's and mother's side
continue to be so forever; and if it happens that they should become slaves, it is through
marriage, as I shall soon explain. If these maharlicas had children among their slaves, the
children and their mothers became free; if one of them had children by the slave-woman
of another, she was compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of a gold tael,
because of her risk of death, and for her inability to labor during the pregnancy. In such a
case half of the child was free—namely, the half belonging to the father, who supplied the
child with food. If he did not do this, he showed that he did not recognize him as his child,
in which case the latter was wholly a slave. If a free woman had children by a slave, they
were all free, provided he were not her husband.
If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave,
whether namamahay or sa guiguilir, the children were divided: the first, whether male or
female, belonged to the father, as did the third and fifth; the second, the fourth, and the
sixth fell to the mother, and so on. In this manner, if the father were free, all those who
belonged to him were free; if he were a slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves;
and the same applied to the mother. If there should not be more than one child he was
half free and half slave. The only question here concerned the division, whether the child
were male or female. Those who became slaves fell under the category of servitude which
was their parent's, either namamahay or sa guiguilir. If there were an odd number of
children, the odd one was half free and half slave. I have not been able to ascertain with
any certainty when or at what age the division of children was made, for each one suited
himself in this respect. Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be sold, but not the
namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they could be
transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they remained in the same village.
The maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another, or from one
barangay to another, without paying a certain fine in gold, as arranged among them. This
fine was larger or smaller according to the inclination of the different villages, running from
one to three taels and a banquet to the entire barangay. Failure to pay the fine might
result in a war between the barangay which the person left and the one which he entered.
This applied equally to men and women, except that when one married a woman of
another village, the children were afterwards divided equally between the two barangays.
This arrangement kept them obedient to the dato, or chief, which is no longer the case—
because, if the dato is energetic and commands what the religious fathers enjoin him, they
soon leave him and go to other villages and other datos, who endure and protect them
and do not order them about. This is the kind of dato that they now prefer, not him who
has the spirit to command. There is a great need of reform in this, for the chiefs are spiritless
and faint-hearted.
Investigations made and sentences passed by the dato must take place in the presence of
those of his barangay. If any of the litigants felt himself aggrieved, an arbiter was
unanimously named from another village or barangay, whether he were a dato or not;
since they had for this purpose some persons, known as fair and just men, who were said to
give true judgment according to their customs. If the controversy lay between two chiefs,
when they wished to avoid war, they also convoked judges to act as arbiters; they did the
same if the disputants belonged to two different barangays. In this ceremony they always
had to drink, the plaintiff inviting the others.
They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth who insulted the
daughter or wife of a chief; likewise witches, and others of the same class.
They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the death-penalty. As for the
witches, they killed them, and their children and accomplices became slaves of the chief,
after he had made some recompense to the injured person. All other offenses were
punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve,
until the payment should be made, the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be
paid. This was done in the following way: Half the cultivated lands and all their produce
belonged to the master. The master provided the culprit with food and clothing, thus
enslaving the culprit and his children until such time as he might amass enough money to
pay the fine. If the father should by chance pay his debt, the master then claimed that he
had fed and clothed his children, and should be paid therefor. In this way he kept
possession of the children if the payment could not be met. This last was usually the case,
and they remained slaves. If the culprit had some relative or friend who paid for him, he
was obliged to render the latter half his service until he was paid—not, however, service
within the house as aliping sa guiguilir, but living independently, as aliping namamahay. If
the creditor were not served in this wise, the culprit had to pay the double of what was lent
him. In this way slaves were made by debt: either sa guiguilir, if they served the master to
whom the judgment applied; or aliping namamahay, if they served the person who lent
them wherewith to pay.
In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of usury, which is a
great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession; for it turns out in the same way as I
have showed in the case of the one under judgment, who gives half of his cultivated lands
and profits until he pays the debt. The debtor is condemned to a life of toil; and thus
borrowers become slaves, and after the death of the father the children pay the debt.
Not doing so, double the amount must be paid. This system should and can be reformed.
As for inheritances, the legitimate children of a father and mother inherited equally, except
in the case where the father and mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts as two or
three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel.
When the parents gave a dowry to any son, and, when, in order to marry him to a chief's
daughter, the dowry was greater than the sum given the other sons, the excess was not
counted in the whole property to be divided. But any other thing that should have been
given to any son, though it might be for some necessity, was taken into consideration at
the time of the partition of the property, unless the parents should declare that such a
bestowal was made outside of the inheritance. If one had had children by two or more
legitimate wives, each child received the inheritance and dowry of his mother, with its
increase, and that share of his father's estate which fell to him out of the whole. If a man
had a child by one of his slaves, as well as legitimate children, the former had no share in
the inheritance; but the legitimate children were bound to free the mother, and to give
him something—a tael or a slave, if the father were a chief; or if, finally, anything else were
given it was by the unanimous consent of all. If besides his legitimate children, he had also
some son by a free unmarried woman, to whom a dowry was given but who was not
considered as a real wife, all these were classed as natural children, although the child by
the unmarried woman should have been begotten after his marriage. Such children did
not inherit equally with the legitimate children, but only the third part. For example, if there
were two children, the legitimate one had two parts, and the one of the inaasava one
part. When there were no children by a legitimate wife, but only children by an unmarried
woman, or inaasava, the latter inherited all. If he had a child by a slave woman, that child
received his share as above stated. If there were no legitimate or natural child, or a child
by an inaasava, whether there was a son of a slave woman or not, the inheritance went
only to the father or grandparents, brothers, or nearest relatives of the deceased, who
gave to the slave-child as above stated.
In the case of a child by a free married woman, born while she was married, if the husband
punished the adulterer this was considered a dowry; and the child entered with the others
into partition in the inheritance. His share equaled the part left by the father, nothing more.
If there were no other sons than he, the children and the nearest relatives inherited equally
with him. But if the adulterer were not punished by the husband of the woman who had
the child, the latter was not considered as his child, nor did he inherit anything. It should be
noticed that the offender was not considered dishonored by the punishment inflicted, nor
did the husband leave the woman. By the punishment of the father the child was fittingly
made legitimate.
Adopted children, of whom there are many among them, inherit the double of what was
paid for their adoption. For example, if one gold tael was given that he might be adopted
when the first father died, the child was given [in inheritance] two taels. But if this child
should die first, his children do not inherit from the second father, for the arrangement stops
at that point.
This is the danger to which his money is exposed, as well as his being protected as a child.
On this account this manner of adoption common among them is considered lawful.
Dowries are given by the men to the women's parents. If the latter are living, they enjoy the
use of it. At their death, provided the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the
rest of the estate, equally among the children, except in case the father should care to
bestow something additional upon the daughter. If the wife, at the time of her marriage,
has neither father, mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry—which, in such a case,
belongs to no other relative or child. It should be noticed that unmarried women can own
no property, in land or dowry, for the result of all their labors accrues to their parents.
In the case of a divorce before the birth of children, if the wife left the husband for the
purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and an equal additional amount fell to the
husband; but if she left him, and did not marry another, the dowry was returned. When the
husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry, and the other half was returned to him. If
he possessed children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry and the fine went to the
children, and was held for them by their grandparents or other responsible relatives.
I have also seen another practice in two villages. In one case, upon the death of the wife
who in a year's time had borne no children, the parents returned one-half the dowry to the
husband whose wife had died. In the other case, upon the death of the husband, one-half
the dowry was returned to the relatives of the husband. I have ascertained that this is not a
general practice; for upon inquiry I learned that when this is done it is done through piety,
and that all do not do it.
In the matter of marriage dowries which fathers bestow upon their sons when they are
about to be married, and half of which is given immediately, even when they are only
children, there is a great deal more complexity. There is a fine stipulated in the contract,
that he who violates it shall pay a certain sum which varies according to the practice of
the village and the affluence of the individual. The fine was heaviest if, upon the death of
the parents, the son or daughter should be unwilling to marry because it had been
arranged by his or her parents. In this case the dowry which the parents had received was
returned and nothing more. But if the parents were living, they paid the fine, because it
was assumed that it had been their design to separate the children.
The above is what I have been able to ascertain clearly concerning customs observed
among these natives in all this Laguna and the tingues, and among the entire Tagalo race.
The old men say that a dato who did anything contrary to this would not be esteemed;
and, in relating tyrannies which they had committed, some condemned them and
adjudged them wicked.
Others, perchance, may offer a more extended narrative, but leaving aside irrelevant
matters concerning government and justice among them, a summary of the whole truth is
contained in the above. I am sending the account in this clear and concise form because
I had received no orders to pursue the work further. Whatever may be decided upon, it is
certainly important that it should be given to the alcal-des-mayor, accompanied by an
explanation; for the absurdities which are to be found in their opinions are indeed pitiable.
May our Lord bestow upon your Lordship His grace and spirit, so that in every step good
fortune may be yours; and upon every occasion may your Lordship deign to consider me
your humble servant, to be which would be the greatest satisfaction and favor that I could
receive. Nagcarlán, October 21, 1589.
Explain
Juan de Plasencia (born in the 16th century in Spain) was a Franciscan Friar who was
known to be a defender of the natives. He was also credited for founding a number of
towns in the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, and Rizal. In the document you read, he gave
a report of the Tagalog society he encountered during his mission work in the 1580s. This
report was given in October 1589 to Santiago de Vera, the chief justice of the Royal
Audiencia and 6th Spanish Governor General in an effort to know the life ways of the
natives so as to better settle disputes relating to the personal affairs of the natives. At that
time, one of the objectives of the colonial authorities was the conversion of the natives to
Christianity and figuring out how to best govern them hence the need for a
documentation of sorts about their life ways. Fr. Plasencia died in 1590 at Liliw, Laguna. He
is also credited for writing Doctrina Cristiana, the first book ever printed in the Philippines.
Elaborate
Aside from being a civil code of sorts, the report of Juan de Plasencia also
articulated the social structure prevalent in the Tagalog area during that time. Below is a
an empty triangle which you can use to illustrate the social structure described by Fr.
Plasencia. You may draw and label the divisions the way you understand the social
structure.
Evaluate
Exercise once again the skill for doing context and text (content) analysis primary sources
for history. Answer the template below
Context Analysis
Title of the document: _______________________________________________________
Original language of the document:____________________________________________
Language used in Translation: ________________________________________________
Translator : ____________________________________________________
Author’s name: _______________________________________________________________
Birth (Date and Place):________________________________________________________
Death:________________________________________________________________________
Relevant information that links the author to the primary source:
Date of writing and/or Publication of the original document:
Place Written
Author’s Purpose for writing the document
Social milieu around the time that the event occurred and was written (What was
happening in history around the time that the document was written?)
Who was the intended audience?
Content Analysis
This document became the country’s first Civil Code, used by the alcaldes-mayores in
their administration of justice. Enumerate at least three (3) topics covered and beside
each, write at least one (1) specific rule.
If there are any, what are the personal biases, suspected errors, or misleading
statements of the author that showed up in the document?
Module 2: Controversies and Conflicting Views in Philippine History
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, the students must be able to:
1. demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in favor or against a particular issue using
primary sources
2. compare and contrast the different accounts on a debatable historical issue
Unit 1: Site of the First Mass: Butuan or Limasawa?
First Mass at Limasawa, painting by National Artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco, 1965
Engage
One of the many debates of in our history is the site of the first Catholic Mass. Most
people at present probably identify Limasawa in Leyte to be the site of the first mass. This is
by virtue of a law which was passed in 1960 proclaiming the island to be such and since
then our history books have carried on this declaration. Below is the text of that law.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2733
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2733 - AN ACT TO DECLARE THE SITE IN MAGALLANES, LIMASAWA ISLAND
IN THE PROVINCE OF LEYTE, WHERE THE FIRST MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES WAS HELD AS A
NATIONAL SHRINE, TO PROVIDE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND
LANDMARKS THEREAT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Section 1. The site in Magallanes, Limasawa Island in the Province of Leyte, where the first
Mass in the Philippines was held is hereby declared a national shrine to commemorate the
birth of Christianity in the Philippines.
Sec. 2. All historical monuments and landmarks in said site shall be preserved and/or
reconstructed whenever necessary as much as possible in their original form and are
hereby declared national historical monuments and landmarks.
Sec. 3. The National Planning Commission shall exercise supervision and control over the
reconstruction and/or preservation of the aforesaid site and monuments, and shall issue
rules and regulations to effectuate the preceding sections of this Act.
Sec. 4. Necessary funds for the purposes of this Act shall be provided for in the annual
appropriations for public works and disbursements shall be made by the National Planning
Commission under such rules and regulations as the Auditor General may prescribe.
Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Enacted without Executive approval, June 19, 1960.
Photo to the left is the marker of the First Catholic

Mass at Limasawa, Leyte.
Source:
https://ncca.gov.ph/press-releases-2/taoid-
heritage-celebration-2014-opens-in-limasawa-
southern-leyte/
Explore
Now that you know the legal basis for the placement of the first Catholic mass in
Limasawa, Leyte, let us examine some texts pertaining to this historical issue and why it
became a debate. As you read, you may make some marginal notes on important details
that lead to the location of the first Catholic mass. More specifically, take highlight the
characteristics of the place where the first mass was held. Write your answers at the end of
this reading.
Excerpt from Antonio Pigafetta’s First Voyage Around the World

Source : Pigafetta, A. & Maximilianus,T. (1969). First Voyage Around the World and De
Moluccis Insulis. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild (pp. 23-32)
At dawn on Saturday, March sixteen, 1521, we came upon a high land at a distance of
three hundred leagues from islands of Ladroni—an island named Zamal [Samar]. The
following day, the captain-general desired to land on another island which was
uninhabited and lay to the right of the above-mentioned island, in order to be more
secure, and to get water and to have rest. He had two tents set up on the shore for the sick
and had a sow killed for them. On Monday afternoon, March 18, we saw a boat coming
toward us with nine men in it. Therefore, the captain-general ordered that no one should
move or say a word without his permission. When those men reached the shore, their chief
went immediately to the captain-general, giving signs of joy because of our arrival. Five of
the most ornately adorned of them remained with us, while the rest went to get some
others who were fishing, and so they all came. The captain-general, seeing that they were
reasonable men, ordered food to be set before them, and gave them red caps, mirrors,
combs, bells, ivory, bocasine, and other things. When they saw the captain‘s courtesy, they
presented fish, a jar of palm wine which they call uraca [arrack], figs more than one palm
long [bananas], and others which were smaller and more delicate, and two coconuts.
They had nothing else then but made signs with their hands that they would bring umay or
rice, and coconuts and many other articles of food within four days.
Coconuts are the fruit of the palm tree. Just as we have bread, wine, oil, and
vinegar, so those people got everything from that tree. They get wine in the following
manner. They bore a hole into the heart of the said palm at the top called palmito, from
which distils a liquor which resembles white mist. That liquor is sweet but somewhat tart, and
[is gathered] in canes [of bamboo] as thick as the leg and thicker. They fasten the
bamboo to the tree at evening for the morning, and in morning for the evening. That palm
bears a fruit, namely the coconut, which is as large as the head or thereabouts. Its outside
husk is green and thicker than two fingers. Certain filaments are found in that husk, whence
is made cord for binding together their boats. Under that husk there is a hard shell, much
thicker than the shell of the walnut, which they burn and make therefrom a powder that is
useful to them. Under that shell there is a white marrowy substance one finger in thickness,
which they eat fresh with meat and fish as we do bread; and it has a taste resembling the
almond. It could be dried and made into bread. There is a clear, sweet water in the middle
of that marrowy substance which is very refreshing. When that water stands for a while
after having been collected, it congeals and becomes like an apple. When the natives
wish to make oil, they take that coconut, and allow the marrowy substance and the water
to putrefy. Then they boil it and it becomes oil like butter. When they wish to make vinegar,
they allow only the water to putrefy, and then place it in the sun, and a vinegar results like
[that made from] white wine. Milk can also be made from it, for we made some. We
scraped that marrowy substance and then mixed the scrapings with its own water which
we strained through a cloth, and so obtained milk like goat‘s milk. Those palms resemble
date-palms, but although not smooth they are less knotty than the latter. A family of 10
persons can be supported on two trees, by utilizing one of them during one week and the
other during the other 8 days for the wine; for if they did otherwise, the trees would dry up.
They last a century.
Those people became very familiar with us. They told us many things, their names
and those some of the islands that could be seen from that place. Their own island was
called Zuluan and it is not very large. We took great pleasure with them, for they were very
pleasant and conversable. In order to show them greater honor, the captain-general took
them to his ship and showed them all his merchandise—cloves, cinnamon, pepper, ginger,
nutmeg, mace, gold and all the things in the ship. He had some mortars fired for them,
whereat they exhibited great fear, and tried to jump out of the ship. They made signs to us
that the above said articles grew in that place where we were going. When they were
about to retire they took their leave very gracefully and neatly, saying that they would
return according to their promise. The island where we were is called Humunu; [now
Homonhon] but inasmuch as we found two springs there of the clearest water, we called it
Acquada da li buoni Segnalli (―the great Watering-place of Good Signs‖), for there were
the first signs of gold which we found in those districts. We found a great quantity of white
coral there, and large trees with fruit a trifle smaller than the almond and resembling pine
seeds. There are many islands in that district, and therefore we called them the
archipelago of San Lazaro, as they were discovered on the Sunday of St. Lazarus. They lie
in 10 degrees of latitude toward the Arctic Pole, and in a longitude of one hundred and
sixty-one degrees from the line of demarcation.
At noon on Friday, March 22, those men came as they had promised us in two boats
with coconuts, sweet oranges, a jar of palm-wine and a cock, in order to show us that
there were fowls in that district. They exhibited great signs of pleasure at seeing us. We
purchased all those articles from them. Their signor was an old man who was painted
[tattooed]. He wore two gold earrings in his ears, and the others many gold armlets on their
arms and kerchiefs about their heads. We stayed there one week, and during that time our
captain went ashore daily to visit the sick, and every morning gave them coconut water
from his own hand, which comforted them greatly. There are people living near that island
who have earrings in their ears so large that they can pass their arms through them. Those
people are caphri, that is to say, heathen. They go naked, with a cloth woven from the
bark of a tree about their privies, except some of the chiefs who wear cotton cloth
embroidered with silk at the ends by means of a needle. They are dark, fat, and painted.
They anoint themselves with coconut and with beneseed oil, as a protection against sun
and wind. They have very black hair that falls to the waist, and use daggers, knives, and
spears ornamented with gold, large shields, fascines,1 javelins, and fishing nets that
resemble rizali; and their boats are like ours.
On the afternoon of holy Monday, the day of our Lady, March twenty-five, while we
were on the point of weighing anchor, I went to the side of the ship to fish and putting my
feet upon a yard leading down into the storeroom, they slipped, for it was rainy, and
consequently I fell into the sea, so that no one saw me. When I was all but under, my left
hand happened to catch hold of the clew-garnet of the mainsail, which was dangling in
the water. I held on tightly, and began to cry out so lustily that I was rescued by the small
boat. I was aided not, I believe, indeed, through my merits but through the mercy of that
font of charity [the Virgin]. That same day we shaped our course toward the west
southwest between four islands, namely Cenalo, Hiunanghan, Ibusson, and Abarien.
On Thursday morning, March twenty-eight, as we had seen a fire on an island the

night before, we anchored near it. We saw a small boat which the natives call boloto
[baroto] with eight men in it, approaching the flagship. A slave belonging to the captain-
general, who was a native of Zamatra [Sumatra], which was formerly called Taprobana,
spoke to them. They immediately understood him, came alongside the ship unwilling to
enter but taking a position at some little distance. The captain, seeing that they would not
trust us, threw them out a red cap and other things tied to a bit of wood. They received
them very gladly, and went away quickly to advise their king. About two hours later we
saw two balanghai coming. They are large boats and are so called [by those people].
They were full of men, and their king was in the larger of them, being seated under an
awning of mats. When the king came near the flagship, the slave spoke to him. The king
understood him, for in those districts the kings knew more languages than the other people.
He ordered some of his men to enter the ships, but he always remained in his balanghai, at
some little distance from the ship until his own men returned; and as soon as they returned
he departed. The captain-general showed great honor to the men who entered the ship,
and gave them some presents, for which the king wished before his departure to give the
captain a large bar of gold and a basketful of ginger. The latter, however, thanked the
king heartily but would not accept it. In the afternoon we went in the ships [and anchored]
near the dwellings of the king.
Next day, holy Friday, the captain-general sent his slave, who acted as our
interpreter, ashore in a small boat to ask the king if he had any food to have it carried to
the ships; and to say that they would be well satisfied with us, for he [and his men] had
come to the island as friends and not as enemies. The king came with six or eight men in
the same boat and entered the ship. He embraced the captain-general to whom he gave
three porcelain jars covered with leaves and full of raw rice, two very large dorado and
other things. The captain-general gave the king a garment of red and yellow cloth made
in the Turkish fashion, and a fine red cap; and to the others (the king‘s men), some knives
and to others, mirrors. Then the captain-general had a collation spread for them, and had
the king told through the slave that he desired to be casi casi with him, that is to say,
brother. The king replied that he also wished to enter the same relations with captain-
general. Then the captain showed him cloth of various colors, linen, coral [ornaments], and
many other articles of merchandise, and all the artillery, some of which he had discharged
for him, whereat the natives were greatly frightened.
Then the captain-general had a man armed as a soldier, and placed him in the
midst of three armed with swords and daggers, who struck him on all parts of the body
Thereby was the king rendered almost speechless. The captain-general told him through
the slave that one of those armed men was worth one hundred of his own men. The king
answered that that was the fact. The captain-general said that he had two hundred men
in each ship who were armed in that manner.1 He showed the king cuirasses, swords, and
bucklers, and had a review made for him. Then he led the king to the deck of the ship, that
is located above at the stern; and had his sea-chart and compass brought. He told the
king through the interpreter how he had found the strait in order to voyage thither and how
many moons he had been without seeing land, whereat the king was astonished. Lastly, he
told the king that he would like, if it were pleasing to him, to send two of his men with him
so that he might show them some of his things. The king replied that he was agreeable,
and I went in company with one of the other men.
When I reached shore, the king raised his hands toward the sky then turned toward
us two. We did the same toward him as did all the others. The king took me by the hand;
one of his chiefs took my companion: and thus they led us under a bamboo covering,
where there was a balanghai, as long as eighty of my palm lengths, and resembling a
fusta. We sat down upon the stern of that balanghai, constantly conversing with signs. The
king‘s men stood about us in a circle with swords, daggers, spears, and bucklers. The king
had a place of pork brought in and a large jar filled with wine. At every mouthful, we drank
a cup of wine. The wine that was left [in the cup] at any time, although that happened but
rarely, was put into a jar by itself. The king‘s cup was always kept covered and no one else
drank from it but he and I. Before the king took the cup to drink, he raised his clasped
hands towards the sky, and then towards us; and when he was about to drink, he
extended the fist of his left hand toward me (at first I thought that he was about to strike
me) and then drank. I did the same toward the king. They all make those signs one toward
another when they drink. We are with such ceremonies and with other signs of friendship. I
ate meat on holy Friday, for I could not help myself. Before the supper hour I gave the king
many things which I had brought.
I wrote down the names of many things in their language. When the king and the
others saw me writing, and when I told them their words, they were all astonished. While
engaged in that the supper hour was announced. Two large porcelain dishes were
brought in, one full of rice and the other of pork with its gravy. We ate with the same signs
and ceremonies, after which we went to the palace of the king which was built like a
hayloft and was thatched with fig and palm leaves. It was built up high from the ground on
the huge posts of wood and it was necessary to ascend to it by means of ladders. The king
made us sit down there on a bamboo mat with our legs drawn up like tailors. After half an
hour a platter of roast fish cut in pieces was brought in, and ginger freshly gathered, and
wine. The king‘s eldest son, who was the prince, came over to us; whereupon the king told
him to sit down near us, and he accordingly did so. Then two platters were brought in (one
with fish and its sauce, and the other with rice), so that we might eat with the prince. My
companion became intoxicated as a consequence of so much drinking and eating. They
used the gum of a tree called anime wrapped in palm or fig leaves for lights. The king
made us a sign that he was going to sleep. He left the prince with us, and we slept with the
latter on a bamboo mat with pillows made of leaves. When day dawned the king came
and took me by the hand, and in that manner we went to where we had had supper, in
order to partake of refreshments, but the boat came to get us. One of his brothers, the king
of another island, and three men came with us. Before we left, the king kissed our hands
with great joy and we his. The captain-general kept him to dine with us, and gave him
many things.
Pieces of gold, of the size of walnuts and eggs, are found by sifting the earth in the
island of that king whom I led to our ships. All the dishes of that king are of gold and also
some portion of his house, as we were told by that king himself. According to their customs
he was very grandly decked out, and the finest looking man that we saw among those
people. His hair was exceedingly black, and hung to his shoulders. He had a covering of silk
in his head, and wore two large golden earrings fastened in his ears. He wore a cotton
cloth all embroidered with silk, which covered him from the waist to the knees. At his side
hung a dagger, the haft of which was somewhat long and all of gold, and its scabbard of
carved wood He had three spots of gold on every tooth, and his teeth appeared as if
bound with gold. He was perfumed with storax and benzoin. He was tawny and painted all
over. That island of his was called Butuan and Calagan. When those kings wished to see
one another, they both went to hunt in that island where we were. The name of the first
king is Raia Colambu, and the second Raia Siaui.
Early on the morning of Sunday, the last of March and Easter-day, the captain-
general sent the priest with some men to prepare the place where Mass was to be said;
together with the interpreter to tell the king that we were not going to land in order to dine
with him, but to say Mass. Therefore the king sent us two swine that he had killed. When the
hour for Mass arrived, we landed with about fifty men, without our body armor, but carrying
our arms, and dressed in our best clothes. Before the commencement of Mass, the captain
sprinkled the entire bodies of the two kings with musk water. During the Mass we made our
offerings. The kings went forward to kiss the cross as we did, but made no offerings. When
the body of our Lord was elevated, they remained on their knees and worshipped Him with
clasped hands. The ships fired all their artillery at once when the body of Christ was
elevated, the signal having been given from the shore with muskets. After the conclusion of
Mass, some of our men took communion.
The captain-general arranged a fencing, at which the kings were greatly pleased.
Then he had a tournament cross carried in and the nails and a crown, to which they made
immediate reverence. He told the kings through the interpreter that they were the
standards given to him by the emperor his sovereign, so that wherever he might go he
might set up those tokens. [He said] that he wished to set it up in that place for their
benefit, for whenever any of our ships came, they would know that we had been there by
that cross, and would do nothing to displease them or harm their property. If any of their
men were captured, they would be set free immediately on that sign being shown. It was
necessary to set that cross on the summit of the highest mountain, so that on seeing it
every morning, they might adore it; and if they did that, neither thunder, lightning, nor
storms would harm them in the least. They thanked him heartily and [said] that they would
do everything willingly. The captain-general also had them asked whether they were
Muslims or heathen, or what was their belief. They replied that they had no other worship
but raising their clasped hands and their face to the sky; and that they called their god
―Abba.‖ Thereat the captain was very glad, and seeing that, the first king raised his hands
to the sky and said that he wished that it were possible for him to make the captain see his
love for him. The interpreter asked the king why there was so little to eat there. The latter
replied that he did not live in that place except when he went hunting and to see his
brother, but that he lived in another island where all his family were. The captain-general
had him asked to declare whether he had any enemies, so that he might go with his ships
to destroy them and to render them obedient to him. The king thanked him and said that
he did indeed have two islands hostile to him, but that it was not then the season to go
there. The captain told him that if God would again allow him to return to those districts, he
would bring so many men that he would make the king‘s enemies subject to him by force.
He said that he was about to go to dinner, and that he would return afterward to have the
cross set up on the summit of the mountain. They replied that they were satisfied, and then
forming in battalion and firing the muskets and the captain having embraced the two
kings, we took our leave.
After dinner we all returned clad in our doublets, and that afternoon went together
with the two kings to the summit of the highest mountain there. When we reached the
summit, the captain-general told them that he esteemed highly having sweated for them,
for since the cross was there, it could not but be of great use to them. On asking them
which port was the best to get food, they replied that there were three, namely, Ceylon,
Zubu, and Calaghann, but that Zubu was the largest and the one with most trade. They
offered of their own accord to give us pilots to show us the way. The captain-general
thanked them, and determined to go there, for so did his unhappy fate will. After the cross
was erected in position, each of us repeated a Pater Noster and an Ave Maria, and
adored the cross; and the kings did the same. Then we descended through their cultivated
fields, and went to the place where the balanghai was. The kings had some coconuts
brought in so that we might refresh ourselves. The captain asked the kings for the pilots, for
he intended to depart the following morning, and [said] that he would treat them as if they
were the kings themselves, and would leave one of us as hostage. The kings replied that
every hour he wished the pilots were at his command, but that night the first king changed
his mind, and in the morning when we were about to depart, sent word to the captain-
general, asking for love of him to wait two days until he should have his rice harvested, and
other trifles attended to. He asked the captain-general to send him some men to help him,
so that it might be done sooner; and said that he intended to act as our pilot himself. The
captain sent him some men, but the kings ate and drank so much that they slept all the
day. Some said to excuse them that they were slightly sick. Our men did nothing on that
day, but they worked the next two days.
One of those people brought us aboard a porringer full of rice and also eight or ten
figs fastened together to barter them for a knife which at the most was worth three catrini.
The captain, seeing that that native cared for nothing but a knife, called him to look at
other things. He put his hand in his purse and wished to give him one real for those things,
but the native refused it. The captain showed him a ducat but he would not accept that
either. Finally the captain tried to give him a doppione worth two ducats, but he would
take nothing but a knife; and accordingly the captain had one of those people wanted to
give him a pointed crown of massive gold, of the size of a colona, for six strings of glass
beads, but the captain refused to let him barter, so that the natives should learn at the
very beginning that we prized our merchandise more than their gold.
Those people are heathens, and go naked and painted. They wear a piece of cloth
woven from a tree about their privies. They are very heavy drinkers. Their women are clad
in tree cloth from their waist down, and their hair is black and reaches to the ground. They
have holes pierced in their ears which are filled with gold. Those people are constantly
chewing a fruit which they call areca, and which resembles a pear. They cut that fruit into
four parts, and then wrap it in the leaves of their tree which they call betre [betel]. Those
leaves resemble the leaves of the mulberry. They mix it with a little lime, and when they
have chewed it thoroughly, they spit it out. It makes the mouth exceedingly red. All the
people in those parts of the world use it, for it is very cooling to the heart, and if they
ceased to use it they would die. There are dogs, cats, swine, fowls, goats, rice, ginger,
coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, millet, panicum, sorgo, wax, and a quantity of gold in that
island. It lies in a latitude of nine and two-thirds degrees toward the Arctic Pole, and in a
longitude of one hundred and sixty-two degrees from the line of demarcation. It is twenty-
five leagues from the Acquada, and is called Mazaua.
We remained there seven days, after which we laid our course toward the
northwest, passing among five islands; namely, Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baybai, and
Gatighan. In the last-named island of Gatighan, there are bats as large as eagles. As it was
late we killed one of them, which resembled chicken in taste. There are doves, turtle-
doves, parrots, and certain black birds as large as domestic chickens, which have a long
tail. The last mentioned birds lay eggs as large as the goose, and bury them under the
sand, through the great heat of which they hatch out. When the chicks are born, they push
up the sand, and come out. Those eggs are good to eat. There is a distance of twenty
leagues from Mazaua to Gatighan. We set out westward from Gatighan, but the king of
Mazaua could not follow us [closely], and consequently, we awaited him near three island;
namely, Polo, Ticobon, and Pozon. When he caught up with us he was greatly astonished
at the rapidity with which we sailed. The captain-general had him come into his ship with
several of his chiefs at which they were pleased. Thus did we go to Zubu from Gatighan,
the distance to Zubu being fifteen leagues.
The account of Pigafetta you just read is one of the two primary accounts that mention
events surrounding the first mass. The other of which is the log of Magellan’s navigator,
Francisco Albo, contramaestre (boatswain) of the ship Trinidad. The translated portion of his
log that contains this information reads,
―From here we departed and sailed W., and fell in with a large island called Seilani, which
is inhabited, and contains gold; we coasted it, and went to W.S.W., to a small inhabited
island called Mazaba. The people are very good, and there we placed a cross upon a
mountain; and from thence they showed us three islands in the W.S.W. direction, and they
say there is much gold there, and they showed us how they gather it, and they found small
pieces like beans and like lentils; and this island is in 9 2/3° N. latitude.‖ (Albo, F.)
As instructed earlier, outline the characteristics of the place where the first Catholic Mass
was held. Include the place names and pay special attention to the geographical and
material context clues.
Table 1. Clues on the location of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines
from the Pigafetta and Albo accounts
Explain
The account of Pigafetta and the log of Albo are the only two documentary
evidences for the location of the first Mass. With the mention of the place names Mazaua
and Mazaba respectively, the island of Limasawa became known as the most probable
location of this event pointed out to be the starting point of Christianity in the Philippines. So
why did such event stir controversy?
In a paper written by Miguel Bernad (1981), the Butuan claim was based on the long
standing tradition that ever since the 17th century, it was believed especially by the people
of Butuan that the first Catholic mass was held at a location by the Agusan river. This belief
most likely was influenced by the interpretations of two 17th century historian priests : Fr.
Francisco Colin S.J. and Fr. Francisco Combés. Both priests published separate works about
the Spanish presence in the Philippines with heavy referencing from the Pigafetta
accounts. It is their interpretation though of the Pigafetta narrative that somehow
grounded the Butuan claim since both priests interpreted the Pigafetta account placing
Magellan at Butuan during the First Mass and planting of the cross (in the Combés
account, only the planting of the cross was mentioned).
In 1872, a monument was then erected near the mouth of the Agusan River, a spot
which was then part of Butuan. The problem though with the marker was the date of the
first mass which was April 8 1521 instead of March 31 1521. The error was hypothesized by
Bernad to be due to an attempt to translate the date in the Gregorian calendar.
Unfortunately, this claim would be supplanted beginning the 20 th century with publishing of
the 55-volume work of Americans Emma Blair and Alexander Robertson in 1900 on a
collection of documents about the Philippines that renewed interests in the .
A Spanish Jesuit scholar by the name of Fr. Pablo Pastells had also accepted the
Butuan claim but a re-examination of the Pigafetta and Albo accounts in 1903 led him to
argue that Magellan did not go to Butuan but rather was in Limasawa thus rendering the
Colin account to be erroneous. Since then, the Limasawa claim gained a stronger foothold
eventually leading to the proclamation by law of Limasawa as the site of the first mass.
This does not lay the issue to rest however since scholars of Butuan still maintain their
claim.
The following is an article that tells of that claim,
Butuan holds Easter Sunday Mass to reinforce contentious historical claim

By: Mozart Pastrano Philippine Daily Inquirer / 01:04 AM April 08, 2013
Retrieved from https://lifestyle.inquirer.net
BUTUAN CITY—Easter Sunday fell on March 31—exactly as it was in 1521, when Ferdinand
went ashore on an island called Mazaua and asked his chaplain to celebrate what
became known as the first Mass in the Philippines.
Commemorating this uncanny coincidence on March 31, eight years shy of the 500th
anniversary of Magellan‘s Easter Mass, was the Diocese of Butuan, with a concelebrated
Mass by the clergy under the aegis of Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos at 9 a.m. at the
Cathedral-Shrine of St. Joseph in this city‘s downtown area.
―Official Philippine history says the first Mass was held in Limasawa, but Catholic
historiography and tradition point to Butuan as the site of this first Eucharistic celebration in
the Philippines,‖ said Fr. Joesilo Amalla, of the Diocese of Butuan, whose scholarly work
―Mazaua Controversy: Truth Uncovered,‖ commissioned by the then president of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag,
Surigao del Sur, is ready for publication.
In his manuscript, Amalla zeroed in on the primary and secondary historiographic

documents, which he sourced from his first-hand research around the world, namely,
Museo Naval de Madrid and Archivo General de Indias in Sevilla (Spain); Bibleoteque
Nationale de Paris (France); British Museum in London (the UK); Amsterdam Maritime
Museum (the Netherlands); Mateo Ricci Institute in Macau and Hong Kong Museum Library
(China); and Bibleoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and Apostolic Library in the Vatican (Italy).
―I read almost all the extant manuscripts of Antonio Pigafetta, who documented
Magellan‘s journey, and of Fransisco Albo, Magellan‘s pilot,‖ said Amalla. ―I read and
touched and prayed over the handwritten pages.‖
Nowhere in Pigafetta and Albo‘s accounts was there any mention of the word
―Limasawa,‖ Amalla pointed out. ―Instead,‖ he said, ―what the primary sources recorded
was that the first Mass was held in a place called Mazaua. The exact words were ‗e se
chiama Mazaua‘ (and is called Mazaua).‖
The Butuan City Heritage Society, of which Amalla is a leading member, contends that
Mazaua was a deltaic island at the mouth of the Agusan River in Butuan in 1521. Through
the years, siltation and other geologic factors fused the island into the Mindanao
mainland.
Noted Amalla, ―Early maps put Mazaua and its variants—such as Mazagua, Massana and
Messana—as an island beside Butuan, which was also characterized as an island by such
early cartographers as Giacomo Gastaldi, whose map was published in 1554, and
Giovanni Battista Ramusio, whose map appeared in 1563. By the time Abraham Ortelius‘
map came out in 1570, Butuan and a place called Messana were depicted side by side
inside the Mindanao mainland.‖
Using an interdisciplinary approach in his historical investigation, Amalla said, ―Alone

among the different Philippine languages, only Butuanon and its derivative language,
Tausug, has the word masawa, which means ‗bright light.‘‖ It was the island‘s bright light
the night before that prompted Magellan to land in Mazaua.
In the northern shores of today‘s Butuan is a barangay called Masao.
In 1986, Asean scientists found a ―graben‖ in Butuan. A graben is a valley-like depression of

the land caused by the subsidence, or sinking, of a series of blocks of the earth‘s crust. This
graben separated Pinamanculan Hills, which is beside Barangay Masao and where the
current Butuan airport is located, from the main landmass of Mt. Mayapay in the southwest.
In his manuscript, Amalla said, ―The Asean experts concluded that the graben or fissure
indicated that there were islands that existed many years ago in the said location and they
have clumped up and have fused themselves beside the Mindanao mainland due to
siltation, erosion and seismic action. When the graben was filled up and the islands in the
area have fused together, nobody had documented them and no naked eye of today
can see the islands at the mouth of where the Agusan River flows today.‖
Discovery
In 2001, a group of local experts made another confirmatory discovery for the Butuan
claim. The experts—Wilfredo Ronquillo, chief archaeologist of the National Museum of the
Philippines; Dr. Yolanda Aguilar, geologist and paleontologist; Roberto de Ocampo, chief
geologist of the National Museum; and Dr. Ricarte Javelosa, chief geomorphologist of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources—testified that Pinamanculan Hills were
but an island during Episode V of its geological formation, that is, between 500 years AD
and until the 18th century.
Amalla observed that 1521 ―was within this time period and the island they found is exactly
at 9ºN as pinpointed by Magellan‘s pilot, Francisco Albo.‖
Another National Museum archaeologist, Mary Jane Louise A. Bolunia, said, ―The
significance of Pinamanculan Hills cannot be taken for granted, especially now that it has
been established that [the area] used to be an island.‖ (―Pinamanculan Hills: Its
Archeological Importance,‖ Butuan City, 2001, p. 3).
Interestingly, for 300 years during the Spanish colonial period, the Catholic Church in the
Philippines believed in the Butuan tradition, that the first Mass in the country was held there.
In his ―Labor Evangelica‖ in 1663, Jesuit superior Fr. Francisco Colin wrote, ―On Easter Day,
in the Territory of Butuan, the First Mass ever offered in these parts was celebrated and a
cross planted. Magellan then took possession of the Islands in the name of the Emperor
and of the Crown of Castile.‖
Amalla disclosed that when the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila was still alive, he told
Amalla he supported his Butuan claim for the first Mass. He said Cardinal Sin allowed him to
see the original copy of the ―Anales Ecclesiasticos de Philipinas 1574-1683.‖ Said Amalla,
―This document stated that the Easter Sunday Mass in 1521 was celebrated by the
Chaplain of Magellan in Butuan.‖
Pigafetta wrote that two kings attended the Mass: ―His island was called Butuan and
Calaghan. And that island is called Mazaua… Of these kings, the aforesaid painted one is
named Raia Colambu and the other Raia Siaui.‖
―They are Butuanon brother-kings,‖ Amalla claimed.
The primary documents mention two balanghai boats accosting Magellan‘s flagship when
they neared Mazaua island, with the king of Mazaua in one of the balanghai. Pigafetta
also mentioned several times the abundance of gold in the island—―Pieces of gold of the
size of walnuts and eggs are found by sifting the earth in the island of that king who came
to our ships. All the dishes of the king are of gold and also some portion of his house….‖
Trading harbor, gold
In his book ―Butuan of a Thousand Years‖ (printed by Ateneo de Manila University Press for
the Butuan City Historical and Cultural Foundation in 2004), another prominent Butuan
historian, Greg Hontiveros, contended that the Masao estuary in today‘s Butuan ―was once
the site of the ancient trading harbor and well-respected kingdom of Butuan.‖ In its
embankments were found the balanghai, the largest, oldest and sturdiest seafaring vessels
in Southeast Asia.
Gold, Hontiveros pointed out, was the currency of the Butuan kingdom before the
Spaniards came. In fact most of the gold pieces in the Central Bank‘s gold collection, on
permanent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, are from the archaeological
findings in Butuan.
In a paper issued by the Butuan City Heritage Society last year, ―The Quest for the Mazaua
Landfall: Latest Navigational and Cartographic Updates,‖ Hontiveros further discussed ―the
ecosystem of Mazaua, gold as its definitive marker, traces of a trading polity, tribal identity
of Raja Siaui of Mazaua and his brother, Raja Calambu of Butuan and Calaghan, the
geology of the Butuan Delta of which Mazaua was part, the location of Gatighan [a
navigational marker as mentioned in the Pigafetta accounts], and the 300-year-old Butuan
Tradition during the Spanish colonial era‖ by way of debunking the Limasawa claim and
upholding the Butuan claim.
Amalla proposed that when modern-day historians tried to update the historiographical
records, they could not find an island near Butuan, and so they did the next best thing:
They looked for an island whose name sounded like Mazaua—and they found Limasawa.
―And politicians seized the moment,‖ he said.
―But the data in the firsthand sources negate this,‖ said Amalla. ―The distances and time
and directions travelled by Magellan do not point to Limasawa at all. Besides, Limasawa
has a rocky shoreline which cannot be a natural harbor as mentioned in the journals. And it
is too small and rough to have rice fields which would take two days to harvest. And it has
no gold mines, no kingdoms, no oral tradition documenting such an encounter—unlike in
Butuan.‖
Amalla further said: ―Did you know that Limasawa has been inaccessible and hardly been
inhabited that it became a parish only in 1994? But the first Christian settlement in
Mindanao was in Butuan in 1596?‖
The National Historical Institute, however, upholds the Limasawa claim.
Nonetheless, the Diocese of Butuan has been commemorating the first Mass in the
Philippines in Butuan City over the years. This year‘s celebration was almost botched,
though, when the city tourism office refused the request of the diocese to use the plaza in
front of the cathedral for the commemorative Mass, suggesting instead that a seven-
minute reenactment in an ecumenical service would do, to be followed by a political rally!
The incumbent city mayor is Protestant.
Image to the left is a portion of the
Map showing Butuan and Limasawa,
(with a red marker) which is an Island
South of Leyte. This is to give you an
idea of the possibilities of Magellan’s
travel around the time of their Easter
Sunday mass
Source: Google maps
Elaborate
Now that you have read the arguments of Fr. Amalia, outline the major points he
made to uphold the Butuan claim as the site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines.
Write them on the table below.
Table 2. Arguments in favor of Butuan as the Site of the First Philippine Mass
Evaluate:
While the law recognizes the island of Limasawa as the real location of the First Mass in the
Philippines, the people of Butuan are still holding on to their claim. Now, examine table 1
and table 2 and reflect on which place really has an assertion of the title. The question now
for you to answer is this, if the debate will be resolved, what would be the
significance/value to either of these places to finally be declared as the True site of the First
Catholic Mass? Write one answer to each of the following:
A. Symbolic value of carrying the title “The Site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines”
B. Practical value of carrying the title “The Site of the First Catholic Mass in the Philippines”
References:
Bernad, Miguel A. Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of the First Mass in the Philippines: A Re-
examination of the Evidence. Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture, [S.l.], v. 5, n. 3 6.1, p.
133-166, jan. 2013. ISSN 2243-7886.
Available at: https://journals.ateneo.edu/ojs/index.php/budhi/article/view/582/579>.
Date accessed: 09 Jun. 2020.
Pigafetta, A. & Maximilianus,T. (1969). First Voyage Around the World and De Moluccis
Insulis. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild (pp. 23-32)
R.A. 2733 Downloaded from:
https://www.chanrobles.com/republicacts/republicactno2733.html#.XuCZLNQzbMw
Extracts from: A Derrotero or Log-book of the Voyage of Fernando de Magallanes in

Search of the Strait, From the Cape of St. Augustin. Francisco Albo, 1519.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_First_Voyage_Round_the_World/Log-
Book_of_Francisco_Alvo_or_Alvaro
Unit 2: Cry of Balintawak or Cry of Pugadlawin
Commemorative monument for the Cry of Pugad El Grito del Revolucion monument by sculptor Ramon
Lawin Source: Lazaro Martinez in 1911 to commemorate the Cry of
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipNzwvna Balintawak. It was relocated UP Diliman in 1968. Source:
uPyDpJfOT-GouN-Mj6E8kFpLvBBKPtQu=w408-h306-k- https://files.pna.gov.ph/source/2018/11/28/balintawak-
no cry-monument-in-front-of-vinzons-hall-up-dil.jpg
Another controversy in Philippine history is the date and location of the start of the
Katipunan revolution. The term “Cry” was translated from the Spanish phrase “el grito de
rebellion‖ which means a call to revolt. In the Philippines, the phrase was used by Spanish
historian Manuel Sastron in his 1897 book entitled, La Insurreccion en Filipinas. Many
historical write-ups have often interchanged the two, the Cry of Balintawak and the Cry of
Pugad Lawin. Confusion may have risen from the interpretations of the locations although
both areas historically are located in Caloocan which had a wider area as a political unit
compared to what it is at present.
It was in 1908 that the Philippine Revolution against the Spaniards was first
commemorated. In 1911, a monument was erected (photo above) but later transferred to
UP Diliman in 1968 due to some roadwork in its former original location.
In the 60s, Historian Teodoro Agoncillo campaigned for the change in the site of the
Cry to Pugad Lawin and the date to August 23 1896 from August 26. As consequence,
President Diosdado Macapagal ordered the change and since then, this became the
prevailing view.
Engage
Just to refresh our memory about the Philippine Revolution, Answer the following:
A. Match column A to B. Write your answer beside the number of the item in column A.
Column A Column B
____1. The leader of the 1896 revolutionary movement A. Andres Bonifacio
B. Cedula
____2. He is known to be the “Utak ng Katipunan”
C. Emilio Aguinaldo
____3. What was the item ceremoniously torn by the D. Emilio Jacinto
E. Gregoria de Jesus
katipuneros when they started the revolution?
F. Melchora Aquino
____4. She was known as Tandang Sora G. Spanish flag
____5. He led the Cavite contingent of the Katipunan
Explore
Read the following selected accounts. There are other narratives about the same
event and you are free to examine them. The texts you are about read are selected for
purposes of showing that there is confusion on the date and place of the revolution
Highlight the text that pertains to the date, location, and the activities that mark the
start of the Philippine revolution against the Spaniards.
Pio Valenzuela’s Version of the “Cry”
Source: Pio Valenzuela in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of
Philippine History, (vol. 8, pp. 301-302) (Collection of Accounts)
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio Bonifacio,
Teodoro Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving there
on August 19, and I, on August 20, 1896. The first place where some 500 members of the
Katipunan met on August 22, 1896, was the house and yard of Apolonio Samson at
Kangkong. Aside from the persons mentioned above, among those who were there were
Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson, and others. Here,
views were only exchanged, and no resolution was debated or adopted. It was at Pugad
Lawin, in the house, store-house, and yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino, where
over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate and
discussion on August 23, 1896. The discussion was on whether or not the revolution
against the Spanish government should be started on August 29, 1896. Only one man
protested and fought against a war, and that was Teodoro Plata [Bonifacio’s brother-in-law
– Z.] Besides the persons named above, among those present at this meeting were Enrique
Cipriano, Alfonso Pacheco, Tomas Remigio, Sinforoso San Pedro, and others. After the
tumultuous meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted “Long
live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!”
Santiago Alvarez’ Version of the “Cry”
Source: Santiago Alvarez in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of
Philippine History, (vol. 8, p. 303) (Collection of Accounts)
Sunday, August 23, 1896

As early as 10 o’clock in the morning, at the barn of Kabesang Melchora Aquino – Z.],
at a place called Sampalukan, barrio of Bahay Toro, Katipuneros met together. About 500 of
these arrived, ready and eager to join the “Supremo” Andres Bonifacio and his men …
Monday, August 24, 1896
There were about 1,000 Katipuneros . . . . The “Supremo” decided to hold a meeting
inside the big barn. Under his leadership, the meeting began at 10 o’clock in the morning . .
.
It was 12 o’clock noon when the meeting adjourned amidst loud cries of “Long live
the Sons of the Country” (Mabuhay ang mga Anak ng Bayan)!
Gregoria de Jesus’ Version of the “Cry”
Source: Gregoria de Jesus in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of
Philippine History, (vol. 8, p. 305) (Collection of Accounts)
The activities of the Katipunan had reached nearly all corners of the Philippine
Archipelago, so that when its existence was discovered and some of the members arrested,
we immediately returned to Caloocan. However, as we were closely watched by the agents
of the Spanish authorities, Andres Bonifacio and other katipuneros left the town after some
days. It was then that the uprising began, with the first cry for freedom on August 25,
1896. Meanwhile, I was with my parents. Through my friends, I learned that the Spanish
were coming to arrest me. Immediately, I fled town at eleven o’clock at night, secretly going
through the ricefields to La Loma, with the intention of returning to Manila. I was treated
like an apparition, for, sad to say, in every house where I tried to get a little rest, I was
driven away as if the people therein were frightened for their own lives. Later, I found out
that the occupants of the houses which I had visited were seized and severely punished -
and some even exiled. One of them was an uncle of mine whom I had visited on that night
to kiss his hand, and he died in exile.
Guillermo Masangkay’s Version of the “Cry”
Guillermo Masangkay in Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide, Documentary Sources of

Philippine History, (vol. 8, pp. 307-309) (Collection of Accounts)
On August 26th [1896 – Z.], a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of
Apolonio Samson, then the cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who attended, I
remember, were Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Rosario, Tomas Remigio, Briccio
Pantas, Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique Pacheco, and Francisco Carreon. They were
all leaders of the Katipunan and composed the board of directors of the organization.
Delegates from Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong (now Rizal), were also present.
At about nine o’clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with
Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as secretary. The purpose was to
discuss when the uprising was to take place. Teodoro Plata [Bonifacio’s brother-in-law – Z.],
Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to starting the revolution too early.
They reasoned that the people would be in distress if the revolution were started without
adequate preparation. Plata was very forceful in his argument, stating that the uprising
could not very well be started without arms and food for the soldiers. Valenzuela used
Rizal’s argument about the rich not siding with the Katipunan organization.
Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would lose in the discussion then, left the session
hall and talked to the people, who were waiting outside for the result of the meeting of the
leaders. He told the people that the leaders were arguing against starting the revolution
early, and appealed to them in a fiery speech in which he said: “You remember the fate of
our countrymen who were shot in Bagumbayan. Should we return now to the towns, the
Spaniards will only shoot us. Our organization has been discovered and we are all marked
men. If we don’t start the uprising, the Spaniards will get us anyway. What then, do you
say?”
“Revolt!” the people shouted as one.
Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told
them that the sign of slavery of the Filipinos were (sic) the cedula tax charged each citizen.
“If it is true that you are ready to revolt,” Bonifacio saved, “I want to see you destroy your
cedulas. It will be the sign that all of us have declared our severance from the Spaniards.”
With tears in their eyes, the people as one man pulled out their cedulas and tore
them to pieces. It was the beginning of the formal declaration of the separation from
Spanish rule. With their cedulas destroyed, they could no longer go back to their homes
because the Spaniards would persecute them, it not for being katipuneros, for having no
cedulas. And people who had no cedulas during those days were severely punished.
When the people’s pledge was obtained by Bonifacio, he returned to the session hall
and informed the leaders of what took place outside. “The people want to revolt, and they
have destroyed their cedulas,” Bonifacio said. “So now we have to start the uprising;
otherwise the people by hundreds will be shot.” There was no alternative. The board of
directors, in spite of the protests of Plata, Pantaas, and Valenzuela, voted for the revolution.
And when this was decided, the people outside shouted: “Long live the Philippine Republic!”
I still remember Bonifacio as he appeared that day. Although a mere bodeguero
(warehouseman) and earning P25 (Mex.) a month, he was a cultured man. He always wore
an open coat, with black necktie, and black hat. He always carried an umbrella. At the
meeting that morning of August 26, Bonifacio took off his coat and was wearing only his
shirt, with collar and tie. Bonifacio’s hobby was weaving bamboo hats. During his spare
time he wove dozens of them and sold them in Manila. Thus he made extra money.
At about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, while the gathering at Balintawak was
celebrating the decision of the Katipunan leaders to start the uprising, the guards who were
up in trees to watch for any possible intruders or the approach of the enemy, gave the
warning that the Spaniards were coming.
Led by Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and other leaders of the Katipunan, the men were
distributed in strategic positions and were prepared for the attack of the civil guards. I was
with a group stationed on the bank of a small creek, guarding the places where the
Spaniards were to pass in order to reach the meeting place of the katipuneros. Shots were
then fired by the civil guards, and that was the beginning of the fire which later became
such a huge conflagration.
Explain
To provide more context to the accounts you examined, read the biographies of
their authors and write a brief description about each person and the role they played in
the revolution. You may refer to any Philippine history book or literature you have.
Pio Valenzuela
Santiago Alvarez
Gregoria de Jesus
Guillermo Masangkay
Elaborate
Let us compare and contrast the accounts of Pio Valenzuela, Santiago Alvarez,
Gregoria de Jesus, and Guillermo Masangkay. Use the information from the accounts and
complete the table below to show any similarities and differences.
Pio Valenzuela’s Santiago Gregoria de Guillermo

account Alvarez’ Jesus’ account Masangkay’s
account account
Commencement
date of the
revolution
Location
Activity/ies
Evaluate
As mentioned in the introduction, the prevailing belief at present is that the

Katipunan revolution started in August 26, 1898 at Pugadlawin. However references to the
August 23 date and the Balintawak location still linger because as with any other long-
standing debates on Historical events, there are those who have different beliefs and
different interpretations. What is most certain is the revolution started in August of 1896
somewhere in the vicinity of Caloocan.
Now, reflect on your answers to the activities and the information you derived from
the sample accounts about the revolution. Answer the following questions:
1. Although not mentioned in all of the accounts presented, One of the more dramatic
historical events was the tearing up of cedulas. Why did the Katipuneros tear their cedulas?
Your explanation should be based on the readings above.
2. For some, it may not make a big difference if the start of the revolution was August 23 or
August 26, 1986; nor will it matter that much to know the exact spot where it happened.
However, historians and history enthusiasts will be among those who will keep the debates
alive. What do you think is the importance of historical accuracy?
References
Guerrero, M. et.al. (2003). In Focus: Balintawak: The Cry for a Nationwide Revolution
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/balintawak-the-cry-for-a-nationwide-
revolution/
Samonte, S. (2018). How the 1st Cry of Balintawak monument was moved to UP
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1055242
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_Pugad_Lawin
Module 3: Special topics on Socio-Economic
and Political Concerns of the Philippines
Learning Outcome
By the end of this module the student must be able to:
Discuss the historical development of major laws in the country and their impact to the
socio-economic and political situation of the Philippines
This section presents the CHED mandated topics about Agrarian Reform, Taxation,
and the Philippine Constitutions.
Unit 1: Agrarian Reform Policies
Our country’s history is full of stories about the struggles of the peasantry. Even towards the
end of the 19th century, agrarian problems worsened with the conflicts between the friars
who possessed the haciendas and the Flipino inquilinos (lessees) and kasamas (peasants).
These problems spilled over towards the turn of the century and thus under the post-
Spanish colonial system, various agrarian reform policies were implemented.
Engage
Below are two situations. Choose just one situation and then answer the question.
1. Imagine yourself to be the owner of a large tract of agricultural land. You want the land
to be productive but then you have no idea how to farm. A landless farmer approached
you, and discussed with you the possibilities of him tilling your farm. What kind of
economic/financial arrangement do you think would be appropriate so that both of you
benefits from the relations? Possible arrangements include:
A. Employment of the farmer to be paid a fixed monthly wage

B. Proportionate sharing of costs and profit
C.Landowner bears all costs of farming implements and gets a bigger share of the profits
D. Other options.
Please elaborate your answer
2. Reverse the scenario, this time you are the farmer. Same question and options apply.
Which do you choose? Clarify your response.
Explore
To give you an idea of the history of Agrarian Reform, below are some of the Agrarian
Reform policies implemented in the country.
Source: Department of Agriarian Reform. Agrarian Reform History.

https://www.dar.gov.ph/about-us/agrarian-reform-history/
Year Agrarian Reform Policy

1902 Philippine Bill of 1902. Set the ceilings on land acquisition: 16 hectares
(has) for private individuals and 1,024 has for corporations.
Act No. 496. Land Registration Act of 1902. Introduced the Torrens
system for a comprehensive registration of land titles under the.
1903 Public Land Act of 1903. Implemented the homestead system in the
Philippines.
1933 Tenancy Act of 1933 (Act No. 4054 and 4113). Title: An act to
promote the well-being of tenants (aparceros) in agricultural lands
devoted to the production of rice and to regulate the relations
between them and the landlords of said lands, and for other
purposes.
1936 Commonwealth Act No. 178 (An Amendment to Rice Tenancy Act
No. 4045). Presented some controls in the landlord-tenant
relationships
1946 Republic Act No. 34. Established the 70-30 sharing agreements and
regulated the contracts for share-tenancy.
1954 Republic Act No. 1199 (Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1954). Organized
a share-tenancy and leasehold system to ensure the security of
tenure of tenants. The Court of Agrarian Relations was created.
1955 Republic Act No. 1400 (Land Reform Act of 1955). Generated the
Land Tenure Administration (LTA) which was had authority for the
acquisition and distribution of large tenanted rice and corn lands
beyond 600 has for corporations and 200 has for individuals.
1963 Republic Act No. 3844 of August 8, 1963 (Agricultural Land Reform
Code). Abolished share tenancy, institutionalized leasehold, set
retention limit at 75 hectares, and expanded the services for farmers.
1971 Republic Act No. 6389, (Code of Agrarian Reform) and RA No. 6390 of
1971. These institutionalized the Department of Agrarian Reform and
created the Agrarian Reform Special Account Fund.
1972 Presidential Decree No. 2, September 26, 1972. Placed the entire
country under land reform program.
Presidential Decree No. 27, October 21, 1972 . Restricted land reform
scope to tenanted rice and corn lands. The retention limit was set at 7
hectares.
1987 1987 Philippine Constitution. Section 21 under Article II “The State shall
promote comprehensive rural development and agrarian reform.”
1988 Republic Act No. 6657 or otherwise known as the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Law (CARL). Title: An act instituting a comprehensive
agrarian reform program to promote social justice and
industrialization, providing the mechanism for its implementation, and
for other purposes
1995 Republic Act No. 7881. Amended come provisions of RA 6657 and
exempted fishponds and prawns from CARP coverage.
1997 Executive Order No. 363.– Limits the type of lands that may be
converted and introduced the categories of lands non-negotiable for
conversion or highly restricted for conversion.
Republic Act No. 8435. Also knows as the Agriculture and Fisheries
Modernization Act AFMA.
1998 Republic Act 8532 (Agrarian Reform Fund Bill) – Provided an
additional Php50 billion fund for CARP and an extension of its
implementation for the next 10 years.
2007 REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9700. Title: An act strengthening the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (carp), extending the
acquisition and distribution of all agricultural lands, instituting
necessary reforms, amending for the purpose certain provisions of
republic act no. 6657, otherwise, known as the comprehensive
agrarian reform law of 1988, as amended, and appropriating funds
therefor.
Explain:
RA6657 or the CARL (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law) is the agrarian reform
law implemented upto present. Although two laws were passed after it, these serve to
extend its implementation and amend only some of its provisions but not supersede it. The
last extension already lapsed in 2014 but the activities that have not yet been achieved
are still being carried on by the Department of Agrarian Reform. Below is a portion of
Section 2 of RA 6657 that contains the logic of Agrarian Reform. It reads as follows:
SECTION 2. Declaration of Principles and Policies. — It is the policy of the State to

pursue a Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The welfare of the landless
farmers and farmworkers will receive the highest consideration to promote social justice
and to move the nation toward sound rural development and industrialization, and the
establishment of owner cultivatorship of economic-size farms as the basis of Philippine
agriculture.
To this end, a more equitable distribution and ownership of land, with due regard to
the rights of landowners to just compensation and to the ecological needs of the nation,
shall be undertaken to provide farmers and farmworkers with the opportunity to enhance
their dignity and improve the quality of their lives through greater productivity of
agricultural lands.
The agrarian reform program is founded on the right of farmers and regular
farmworkers, who are landless, to own directly or collectively the lands they till or, in the
case of other farm workers, to receive a just share of the fruits thereof. To this end, the State
shall encourage and undertake the just distribution of all agricultural lands, subject to the
priorities and retention limits set forth in this Act, having taken into account ecological,
developmental, and equity considerations, and subject to the payment of just
compensation. The State shall respect the right of small landowners, and shall provide
incentives for voluntary land-sharing.
Also from the same law, some of the operating definitions are as follows:
SECTION 3. Definitions. – For the purpose of this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise:
(a) Agrarian Reform means the redistribution of lands, regardless of crops or fruits produced
to farmers and regular farmworkers who are landless, irrespective of tenurial arrangement,
to include the totality of factors and support services designed to lift the economic status
of the beneficiaries and all other arrangements alternative to the physical redistribution of
lands, such as production or profit-sharing, labor administration, and the distribution of
shares of stocks, which will allow beneficiaries to receive a just share of the fruits of the
lands they work.
(b) Agriculture, Agricultural Enterprise or Agricultural Activity means the cultivation of the
soil, planting of crops, growing of fruit trees, raising of livestock, poultry or fish, including the
harvesting of such farm products, and other farm activities and practices performed by a
farmer in conjunction with such farming operations done by persons whether natural or
juridical.
(c) Agricultural Land refers to land devoted to agricultural activity as defined in this Act
and not classified as mineral, forest, residential, commercial or industrial land.
(f) Farmer refers to a natural person whose primary livelihood is cultivation of land or the
production of agricultural crops, either by himself, or primarily with the assistance of his
immediate farm household, whether the land is owned by him, or by another person under
a leasehold or share tenancy agreement or arrangement with the owner thereof.
(g) Farmworker is a natural person who renders services for value as an employee or
laborer in an agricultural enterprise or farm regardless of whether his compensation is paid
on a daily, weekly, monthly or ―pakyaw‖ basis. The term includes an individual whose work
has ceased as a consequence of, or in connection with, a pending agrarian dispute and
who has not obtained a substantially equivalent and regular farm employment.
Elaborate
What are the salient features of RA 6657?
1. The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program covers all public and private agricultural
lands
2. Retention limit for the landowner is 5 hectares
3. Children of the landowner may be awarded at most 3 hectares each provided that a)
he/she is at least 15 yrs old; and b) that he is actually tilling the land or directly managing
the farm
4. To qualify, a beneficiary must possess the “willingness, aptitude, and ability to cultivate
and make the land as productive as possible”.
5. Award limit for beneficiaries is 3 hectares of land.
6. The land award received by the beneficiaries must not be sold nor transferred for a
period of ten (10) years except by virtue of inheritance or if transferred to the Government.
You may refer to the annex for the supplemental reading.
Evaluate
Apart from the land award, what do you think are the benefits of Agrarian Reform to the
Landless Farmers and the greater Agricultural Sector? Explain one benefit each.
Benefit to the Farmer Beneficiary:
Benefit to the Agricultural Sector:
References:
Department of Agrarian Reform. Agrarian Reform History. https://www.dar.gov.ph/about-
us/agrarian-reform-history/
RA 6657 Retrieved from https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1988/06/10/republic-act-no-
6657/
Unit 2. Taxation
Taxation in the Philippines has an age old history. It reaches as far back as the time
when pre-colonials paid tributes to their chieftains and through the Spanish era with the
payment of buwis. Through time, the tax policies of the Philippines evolved into what it is
now referred to as the TRAIN law or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
Engage
What are words that you associate with Tax? Make a word cloud positioning TAX at the
center and the words you related with it surrounding it. You may position the related words
horizontally or vertically and in different sizes depending on how you feel you are affected
by it.
TAX
Explore
Look for an old receipt that has a tax. Highlight the tax. Paste the receipt here. Label
outside the box what kind of tax was paid for.
Explain
To help you progress through this unit, here are some notes on Taxation
1. Taxation is a mechanism through which most government expenditures are financed.

The tax is the amount that is levied or imposed on a tax payer.
2. The three principles of a sound tax system are:
1) Social Justice – taxation is based on equity, which means that the ability to
pay taxes must be considered and that those who pay taxes must benefit from what
it is spent for
2) Compliance – the tax measures implemented must allow the compliance

of the taxpayers. If supposed taxpayers are able to circumvent the tax law or its
administration, then there is a flaw in the tax system.
3) Adequacy of Revenue – the taxes collected must yield enough revenue.
3. The types of tax structures are progressive, proportional, and regressive. Progressive taxes
are tax rates that increase with the base. Proportional taxes are fixed percentages to the
base. Regressive taxes are fixed tax rates or tax rates that decrease as the base increases.
4. Taxes may either be direct (example: income, estate, gift, inheritance, residence, real
property taxes); or indirect because the burden may be transferred to someone else
(example: excise, tax, import duties, ad valorem tax).
5. Taxes may be imposed by that national government (example: personal income tax and
income tax and excise tax as found in the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as
amended by RA 10963) and local government units (example: community tax and real
property tax as found in the Local Government Code of 1991).
Elaborate.
Signed into law on December 19, 2017, RA 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration
and Inclusion (TRAIN Law) is the first package of four tax reforms under the government’s
Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. Among the more prominent features of the TRAIN
law that had a wide range effect is the implementation of a lower personal income tax but
on the other hand, an increase in taxes related to consumption.
The objectives of the TRAIN law as stated in Section 2. Declaration of Policy of RA

10963 reads as follows:
―(a) To enhance the progressivity of the tax system through the rationalization of the
Philippine internal revenue tax system, thereby promoting sustainable and inclusive
economic growth;
(b) To provide, as much as possible, an equitable relief to a greater number of taxpayers

and their families in order to improve levels of disposable income and increase economic
activity; and
(c) To ensure that the government is able to provide for the needs of those under its
jurisdiction and care through the provision of better infrastructure, health, education, jobs,
and social protection for the people.‖
For a popularized summary of the law, see the appendix of this module for the
document “Tax Changes You Need To Know” by the National Tax Research Center under
the Department of Finance.
There are also journal articles included that give various perspectives about the Train
Law.
Evaluate
Sociologist Robert Merton modified the Structural Functional Analysis to include

manifest and latent consequences of a social structure (like laws) to the society at large or
to groups. Manifest consequences are consequences that are intended or expected to
come with the structure. Latent consequences on the other hand are consequences that
are incidental or accidental in nature. Consequences may either be positive or negative in
effect. Positive consequences are called Functions while negative consequences are
called Dysfunctions.
Perform this analysis on the TRAIN Law by filling up the table. Remember that the
consequences you write down are pertaining to effects to the society or social groups.
You may read newspaper articles or interview taxpayers for enriched information. Sample
responses are included to guide you.
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF RA 10963 (TRAIN LAW)

Manifest Latent
Functions Ex. To reform the outdated Tax policy Ex. It forces consumers to make more
(Positive of the country with a rationalized tax practical changes in their spending
consequences) system patterns due to the increase in the tax
rates of some consumer products.
Your answer:
Your answer:
Dysfunctions Ex. Inflationary effect because the Ex. Adversely affects some industries
(Negative cost of certain products (like sugar) because of the eventual
consequences) increased as their tax rates were preference for lower taxed
increased. substitutes.
Your answer: Your answer:
RA 10963. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2017/12dec/20171219-RA-10963-
RRD.pdf
National Tax Research Center, Department of Finance (2018) Tax Changes You Need to
Know on RA 10963 (TRAIN) http://www.ntrc.gov.ph/images/Publications/train/tax-changes-
you-need-to-know.pdf
https://taxreform.dof.gov.ph/
Local Taxes. http://www.ntrc.gov.ph/images/Publications/guide-to-philippine-taxes-

2016/local-taxes.pdf
Cororaton, C., Tiongco, M., & Eloriaga, J. (2019). Assessing the Potential Impacts of the Tax
Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion and the Build Build Build Program. Angelo King
Institute Policy Brief, XII(4). https://www.dlsu-
aki.com/uploads/1/0/2/2/102266760/aki_policy_brief__volume_xii_no._4_2019.pdf.
Castillo, C.J., Clarete, R., Muyrong, M. & Tuano, P. (2019). Impacts of TRAIN fuel excise taxes
on employment and poverty. Philippine Institute for Development Studies Policy Notes,
2019-10. https://think-asia.org/bitstream/handle/11540/11301/pidspn1910.pdf?sequence=1
Unit 3 The Philippine Constitutions
A Constitution is the fundamental law of a state serving as a basic framework of how

the country should be governed. All statutes and all other laws of the State must conform
to the Constitution.
The Philippines have numerous constitutions owing to our tumultuous history.

Depending on the source you are using, history may record as many as 8 constitutions. This
Unit presents the evolution of our Constitution and consequently our government.
Engage
Read the Preamble of the 1987 Constitution.
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order
to build a just an humane society, and establish a Government that shall
embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve
and develop our patrimony, and secure to ourselves and our posterity, the
blessings of independence and democracy under the rule of law and a
regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace, do ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.
Explore
A preamble is essentially the introductory statement in a document and in this case,
the Constitution. It is intended to express the purpose of the Constitution, the intents of its
creation, and the underlying philosophy.
Go back to the preamble above and answer the following questions. You are
allowed to quote directly from the Preamble’s text.
1. What is kind of society is desired?
2. What is expected of the Government?
3. What are the underlying philosophies?
Explain
The history of our constitutions spans to almost a century and because of our
colonial history, there are shifts and turns to be expected. To guide you through this,
the table that follows presents a timeline of developments in our Government and
our constitution with other relevant information.
A Brief History of the Constitutions of the Philippines
1897 Biak na Bato Constitution
Felix Ferrer and Isabelo Artacho copied the Cuban Constitution of
Jimaguayu. The difference is that the Biak na Bato Constitution
proclaimed Tagalog to be the official language of the republic
President: Emilio Aguinaldo
1899 The Malolos Constitution
This is the Constitution of the First Philippine Republic
It established a unicameral legislature
The legislative branch was more powerful than the executive and
judiciary
President: Emilio Aguinaldo
The First Philippine Republic Lasted from 1899-1901
1902 Philippine Organic Act of 1902 (Cooper Law)
American Passed by the U.S. Congress
occupation Created the Philippine Assembly composed of Filipinos
Provided a bill of rights which guaranteed Filipinos rights like : free
speech, free press, and freedom to petition for the redress of grievances.
Allowed the Filipinos to send two representatives (resident
commissioners) to the US Congress only to discuss matters about the
Philippines but not to vote
Civil governor of the Philippines: William Howard Taft
1916 Philippine autonomy act of 1916 (Jones Law)

Approved by the U.S. Congress
Included the first pledge of Philippine independence
Used along with Philippine Bill of 1902 until 1935
Provided for a government patterned after the U.S government with
three branches: Executive, Legislative, Judicial
Most important provision: Bill of Rights
Governor General of the Philippines: Francis Burton Harrison
1934 Philippine independence act (Tydings-McDuffe Law) by the U.S. congress
Set the parameters for the creation of a Philippine constitution
A constitutional convention was created for the Commonwealth
Constitution
Signed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
1935 Ratification of the 1935 Constitution
Inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
Condition: it would remain the constitution of the Philippines until the
granting of Independence (July 4, 1946) after which shall be known as
the Republic of the Philippines
Influenced strongly by the earlier organic acts and the United States
Constitution
President of the Commonwealth: Manuel L. Quezon
1940 Amendment of the 1935 constitution by the National Assembly of the Phil
Congress was changed from unicameral to bicameral
Changed the term limit of the President of the Philippines from 6 years
w/o reelection to 4 years with possibility of a second-term reelection
1943 1943 Constitution under the Japanese sponsored government
Japanese Second Republic lasted until 1945 after the liberation of the Philippines.
Occupation The 1935 Constitution was again in effect
President of the Second Republic: Jose P. Laurel
1946 July 4 1946 Philippine Independence from the Americans
President of the Third Republic: Manuel A. Roxas
1947 Amendment of the 1935 constitution through Commonwealth Act No.
733
Parity amendment: US citizens have equal rights with Filipino citizens to
operate public utilities and develop the country’s natural resources
The 1935 constitution remained until the Sept. 23 1972 (Declaration of
Martial Law)
Martial Law Amendments:
Era The Incumbent President became the regular President and Prime
Minister
Established a modified parliamentary form of government
President: Ferdinand Marcos
1981 Inauguration of the Fourth Republic
President: Ferdinand Marcos
1986 Proclamation No. 3 - Transitory constitution or “Freedom Constitution”
Creation of a Constitutional Commission
Post-EDSA The start of Fifth Republic
Revolution
Basic Principles of the 1987 Constitution (Sourced from Hector De Leon‘s
Book ―Textbook on the Philippine Constitution 2005 edition)
1. Preamble - Recognition of the aid of Almighty God

2. Art II Sec 1 – Sovereignty of the people
3. Art II Sec 2 – Renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy
4. Art II Sec 3 – Supremacy of civilian authority over the military
5. Art II Sec 6 – Separation of church and state
6. Art II Sec 12, 13, Art XV – Recognition of the importance of the family as
a basic social institution and of the vital role of the youth in nation-
building
7. Art III Sec 1-22 Guarantee of human rights
8. Art V Sec 1 – Government through suffrage
9. Art VI Sec 1 – Separation of powers
10. Article VIII Sec 1 – Independence of the judiciary
11. Art X sec 2 – Guarantee of local autonomy
12. Art XI Sec 1 – High sense of public service morality and accountability
of public officers
13. Art XII, Sec 2, 3, 17, 18 – Nationalization of natural resources and
certain private enterprises affected with public interest
14. Art XVI - Non-suability of the State
15. Rule of the majority
16. Government of laws and not of men.
Elaborate
One of the reasons why the 1987 Constitution is so significant is Article III or the Bill of
Rights which provide protection against possible abuse of power by the state. Below are
some of the essential provisions of the Bill of Rights:
Right to due process and equal protection of law

Right against searches and seizures without a warrant issued by a judge
Right to privacy
Right to freedom of speech and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly,
and the right to petition
The free exercise of religion
Right of abode and the right to travel
Right to information on matters of public concern
Right to form associations
Right of free access to courts
Right to remain silent and to have competent legal counsel
Right to bail and against excessive bail conditions
Right to habeas c to a speedy trial
Right against self-incrimination
Right to political beliefs and aspirations
Prohibition against cruel, degrading, or inhuman punishment
Protection providing for no imprisonment for debt
Right against double jeopardy
Prohibition of ex post facto laws and bills of attainder.
Given today’s context, choose one of the Rights that you think is timely to discuss. Explain
your choice.
Answer:
Evaluate
Illustrate creatively using symbols and captions, the history of the Constitutions of
the Philippines. Use the space on the next page for your illustration.
References
Agoncillo, T. (2010). Philippine History. C&E Publishing.
De Leon, H. S. (2005). Textbook on the Philippine constitution. Rex Bookstore, Inc.
Evolution of the Philippine Constitution.
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/constitution-
day/#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20has%20had%20a,lasted%20from%201899%20to%201901.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Philippines
Illustrating the History of the Philippine Constitutions
Final Requirement
Write a 1-page narrative/ brochure/ pamphlet/ about a local historical event. You
may interview members of your household who have a first-hand experience about
the local event. Use the rubric below as your guide in making your final output)
Criteria Expectations Not Expectations Expectations Expectations
Met Moderately Met Met Highly Met
Content (30) Local history lacks Local history Local history Local history
pertinent/relevant shows a shows strongly shows
information, surface-level information, information,
knowledge and ideas information, knowledge and knowledge and
knowledge and ideas which are ideas which are
ideas key key
1-7 components. components.
8-15
16-22 23-30
ANNEX

Analyzing Primary Sources in Philippine History

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Analyzing Primary Sources in Philippine History

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GHIST

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

2. Analyze the context, content, and

3. Determine the contribution of different kinds

4. Develop critical and analytical skills with

5. Demonstrate the ability to use primary

6. Effectively communicate, using various

8. Manifest interest in local history and concern

The picture to the left is an artifact popularly known as

As a side note, the picture on the cover of this module is

Unit 1: Historical Method: Typologies and Repositories of Primary and Secondary

At the end of this unit, the students must be able to :

Complete the following sentences:

2. Studying History is important because _______________________________________________

3. Historical sources come from _______________________________________________________

Source Primary Secondary

Simply put, historical sources may be classified as either primary or secondary.

Source Written Unwritten

Schumacher, J. N. (1996). The Making of a Nation, Essays on Nineteenth-Century Filipino

Howell, M. and Prevenier, W. (2001). From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical

The Battle of Mactan, Anonymous painting

Check if you agree or disagree

Excerpt from Antonio Pigafetta’s, Primo Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo

Title of the document where the selected text came from :

Original language of the document:___________________________________________

Language used in Translation: _______________________________________________

Author’s name: _______________________________________________________________

Birth (Date and Place):_______________________Death________________________________

Date of writing and/or Publication of the original document:

Who was the intended audience of the document?

Who were the groups or people mentioned?

What were the places mentioned?

What do you think is the historical significance of this document?

16th century Tagalog royalty

Source: Boxer Codex -

Customs of the Tagalogs

(TWO RELATIONS BY JUAN DE PLASENCIA, O.S.F.)

CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS

Title of the document: _______________________________________________________

Original language of the document:____________________________________________

Language used in Translation: ________________________________________________

Author’s name: _______________________________________________________________

Birth (Date and Place):________________________________________________________

Relevant information that links the author to the primary source:

Date of writing and/or Publication of the original document:

Author’s Purpose for writing the document

Who was the intended audience?

By the end of this module, the students must be able to:

2. compare and contrast the different accounts on a debatable historical issue

Unit 1: Site of the First Mass: Butuan or Limasawa?

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2733

Sec. 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Enacted without Executive approval, June 19, 1960.

Photo to the left is the marker of the First Catholic

Excerpt from Antonio Pigafetta’s First Voyage Around the World

On Thursday morning, March twenty-eight, as we had seen a fire on an island the

The following is an article that tells of that claim,

Butuan holds Easter Sunday Mass to reinforce contentious historical claim

In his manuscript, Amalla zeroed in on the primary and secondary historiographic

Using an interdisciplinary approach in his historical investigation, Amalla said, ―Alone

In the northern shores of today‘s Butuan is a barangay called Masao.

In 1986, Asean scientists found a ―graben‖ in Butuan. A graben is a valley-like depression of

Birth (Date and Place):_Death__________