Readings 1: (Travelogue) Antonio Pigafetta’s First Voyage Around the World

Pre-reading Activity Background of the Author

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, the 16th of March, 1521, we arrived at daybreak in sight of a high island, three
hundred leagues distant from the before-mentioned Thieves’ island. This isle is named Zamal.
The next day the captain-general wished to land at another uninhabited island near the first, to
be in greater security and to take water, also to repose there a few days. He set up their two
tents on shore for the sick, and had a sow killed for them. Monday, the 18th of March, after
dinner, he saw a boat come toward us with nine men in it: upon which a captain-general ordered
that no one should move or speak without his permission. When these people had come into
this island towards us, immediately principal one amongst them went towards the
captain-general with demonstration of being very joyous at our arrival. Five of the most showy of
them remained with us, the other who remained with boat went to call some men who were
fishing, and afterwards all of them came together. The captain seeing that these people were
reasonable, ordered food and drink to be given them, and he gave them some red caps, looking
glasses, combs, bells, ivory, and other things. When these people saw the politeness of the
captain, they presented some fish, and a vessel of palm wine, which they call in their language
Uraca; figs more than a foot long, and other smaller and of a better savour, and two cochos. At
the time, they had nothing to give him, and they made signs to us with their hands that four days
they would bring us Umai, which is rice, cocos, and many other victuals.

To explain the kind of fruits above-named it must be known that the one which they call cochi, is
the fruit which the palm trees bear. And as we have bread, wine, oil, and vinegar, proceeding
from different kinds, so these people have those things proceeding from these palm trees only.
It must be said that wine proceeds from the said palm trees in the following manner. They make
a hole at the summit of the tree as far as its heart, which is named palmito, from which a liquor
comes out in drops down the tree, like white must, which is sweet, but with somewhat of bitter.
They have canes as thick as the leg, in which they draw off this liquor, and they fasten them to
the tree from the evening till next morning, and from the morning to the evening, because this
liquor comes little by little. This palm produces a fruit named cocho, which is as large as the
head, or thereabouts: its first husk is green, and two fingers in thickness, in it they find certain
threads, with which they make the cords for fastening their boats. Under this husk there is
another very hard, and ticker than that of a walnut. They burn this second rind, and make with it
a powder which is useful to them. Under this rind there is a white marrow of a finger’s thickness,
which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we do bread, and it has the taste an almond, and if
anyone dried it he might bread of it. From the middle of this marrow there comes out a clear
sweet water, and very cordial, which, when it has rested a little, and settled, congeals, and
becomes like an apple. When they wish to make oil they take this fruit, the coco, and let it get
rotten, and they corrupt this marrow in the water, then they boil it, and it becomes oil in the
manner of butter. When they want to make vinegar, they let the water in the cocoa-nut get bad,
and they put in the sun, when it turns to vinegar like white wine. From this fruit milk also can be
made, as we experienced, for we scraped this marrow and then put it with its water, and passed
it trough a cloth, and thus is was milk like that of goals. This kind of palm tree is like the
date-palm, but not so rugged. Two of these trees can maintain a family of ten persons: but they
do not draw wine as above-mentioned always from one tree, but draw from one for eight days,
and from the other as long. For it they did not, otherwise the trees would dry up. In this manner
they last a hundred years.

These people became very familiar and friendly with us, and explained many things to us in
their language, and told us the names of some islands which we saw with our eyes before us.
*The island where they dwelt is called Zuluam, and it is not large.* As they were sufficiently
agreeable and conversible we had great pleasure with them. The captain seeing that they were
of this good condition, to do them greater honour conducted them to the ship, and showed them
all his goods, that is to say, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, mace, gold and all that
was in the ship. He also had some shots fired with his artillery, at which they were so much
afraid that they wished to jump from the ship into the sea. They made signs that the things
which the captain had shown them grew there where we were going. When they wished to
leave us, they took leave of the captain and of us with very good manners and gracefulness,
promising us to come back to see us. The island we were at was named Humunu; nevertheless,
because we found there two springs of very fresh water we named it the Watering Place of good
signs, and because we found here the first signs of gold. There is much white coral to be found
here, and large trees which bear fruit smaller than an almond, and which are like pines. There
were also many palm trees both good and bad. In this place there were many circumjacent
islands, on which account we named them the archipelago of St. Lazarus, because we stayed
there on the day and feast of St. Lazarus. This region and archipelago is in ten degrees north
latitude, and a hundred and sixty-one degrees longitude from the line of demarcation. Friday,
the 22nd of March , the above-mentioned people, who had promised us to return, came about
midday, with two boats laden with the said fruit cochi, sweet oranges, a vessel of palm wine,
and a cock, to give us to understand that they had poultry in their country, so that we bought all
the they brought. The lord of this people was old, and had his face painted, and had gold rings
suspended to his ears, which they name Schione, and the others had many bracelets and rings
of gold on their arms, with a wrapper of linen round their head. We remained at this place eight
days: the captain went there every day to see his sick men, whom he had placed on this island
to refresh them: and he gave them himself every day the water of this said fruit the cocho, which
comforted them much. Near this isle is another where there are a kind of people who wear holes
in their ears so large than they can pass their arms through them; these people are Caphre, that
is to say, Gentiles, and they go naked, except that round their middles they wear cloth made of
the bark of trees. But there are some of the more remarkable of them who wear cotton stuff,
and at the end of it there is some work of silk with a needle. These people are tawny, fat, and
painted, and they anoint themselves with the oil of coco nuts and sesame, to preserve them
from the sun and the wind. Their hair is very black and long, reaching to the waist, and they
carry small daggers and knives, ornamented with gold, and many other things, such as darts,
harpoons, and nets to fish, like …….., and their boats are like ours. The Monday of Passion
week, the 25th of March, and feats of our Lady, in the afternoon, and being ready to depart
from this place, I went to the side of our ship to fish and putting my feet on a spar to go down to
the store room, my feet slipped, because it had rained, and I fell into the sea without any one
seeing me, and being near drowning by luck I found at my left hand the sheet of the large sail
which was in the sea, I caught hold of it and began to cry out till they came to help and pick me
up with the boat. I was assisted not by my merits, but by the mercy and grace of the fountain of
pity. That same day we took the course between west and southwest, and passed amidst four
small islands, that is to say, Cenalo, Huinanghar, Ibusson, and Abarien. Thursday , the 28th of
March, having seen the night before fire upon an island, at the morning we came to anchor at
this island; where we saw a small boat which they call Boloto, with eight men inside, which
approached the ship of the captain-general. Then a slaves of the captain’s, who was from
Sumatra, otherwise named Traprobana, spoke from afar to these people, who understood his
talk, and came near to the side of the ship, but they withdrew immediately, and would not enter
the ship from fear of us.

So the captain seeing that they would not trust to us showed them a red cap, and other things,
which he had tied and placed on a little plank, and the people in the boat took them immediately
and joyously, and then returned to advise their king. Two hours afterwards, or thereabouts, we
saw come two long boats, which they call Ballanghai, full of men. In the largest of them was
their king sitting under an awning of mats; when they were near the ship of the captain-general,
the said slave spoke to the king, who understood him well, because in these countries the kings
know more languages than the common people. Then the king ordered some of his people to
go to the captain’s ship, whilst he would not move from his boat, which was near enough to us.
This was done, and when his people returned to the boat, he went away at once. The captain
gave good entertainment to the men who came to his ship, and gave them all sorts of things, on
which account the king wished to give the captain a rather large bar of solid gold, and a chest
full of ginger. However, the captain thanked him very much but would not accept the present.
After that, when it was late, we went with the ships near to the houses and adobe of the king.

The next day which was Good Friday, the captain sent on shore the before-mentioned slave,
who was our interpreter, to the king beg him to give him for money some provisions for his
ships, sending him word that he had not come to his country as an enemy, but as a friend. The
king on hearing this came with seven or eight men in a boat, and entered the ship, and
embraced the captain, and gave him three china dishes covered with leaves full of rice, and two
dorades, which are rather large fish, and of the sort above-mentioned, and he gave him several
other things. The captain gave this king a robe of red and yellow cloth, made in the Turkish
fashion, and a very fine red cap, and to his people he gave to some of them knives, and to
others mirrors.
After that refreshments were served up to them. The captain told the king through the said
interpreter, that he wished to be with him, cassi cassi, that is to say, brothers. To which the king
answered that he desire to be the same towards him. After that the captain showed him cloths
of different colours, linen, coral, and much other merchandise, and all the artillery, of which he
had some pieces fried before him, at which the king was much astonished; after that the captain
had one of his soldiers armed with white armour, and place him in the midst of three comrades,
who stuck him with swords and daggers. The king thought this very strange, and the captain
told him, through the interpreter, that a man thus in white armour was worth a hundred of his
men; he answered that it was true; he was further informed that there where in each ship two
hundred like that man. After that the captain showed him a great number of swords, cuirasses,
and helmets, and made of two of the men play with their swords before the king; he then
showed him the sea chart and the ship compass, and informed him how he had found the strait
to come there, and of the time which he had spent in coming also of the time he had been
without seeing any land, at which the king was astonished. At the end the captain asked if he
would be pleased that two of his people should go with him to the places where they lived, to
see some of the things of his country. This the king granted, and I went with another.

When I had landed, the king raised his hands to the sky, and turned to us two, and we did the
same as he did; after that he took me by the hand, and one of his principal people took my
companion, and led us under a place covered with canes, where there was a ballanghai, that is
to say, a boat, eighty feet long or thereabouts, resembling a fusta. We set with the king upon its
poop, always conversing with him by signs, and his people stood up around us, with their
swords, spears, and bucklers. Then the king ordered to be brought a dish of pig’s flesh and
wine. Their fashion of drinking is in this wise, they first raise their hands to heaven, then take the
drinking vessel in their right hand, and extend the left hand closed towards the people. This king
did, and presented to me his fist, so that I thought that he wanted to strike me; I did the same
thing towards him; so with this ceremony, and other signs of friendships, we banqueted, and
afterwards supped with him.

I ate flesh on Good Friday, not being able to do otherwise, and before the hour of supper, I gave
several things to the king, which I had brought. There I wrote down several things as they name
them in their language, and when the king and the other saw me write, and I told them their
manner of speech, they were all astonished. When the hour for supper and come, they brought
two large china dishes, of which one was full of rice, and the other of pig’s flesh, with its broth
and sauce. We supped with the same signs and ceremonies, and then went to the king’s place,
which was made a built like a hay grange, covered with fig and palm leaves. It was built on great
timbers high above the ground, and it was necessary to go up steps and ladders to it. Then the
king made us sit on a cane mat, with our legs doubled as was the custom; after half an hour
there was brought a dish of fish roast in pieces, and ginger fresh gathered that moment, and
some wine. The eldest son of the king, who was the prince, came where we were, and the king
told him to sit down near us, which he did; then two dishes were brought, one of fish, with its
sauce, and the other of rice, and this was done for us to eat with the prince. My companion
enjoyed the food and drink so much that he got drunk. They use for candles or torches the gum
of a tree which is named Anime, wrapped up in leaves of palms of fig trees. The king made a
sign that he wished to go to rest, and left with us the prince, with whom we slept on a cane mat,
with some cushions and pillows of leaves. Next morning the king came and took me by the
hand, and so we went to the place where we had supped, to breakfast, but the boat came to
fetch us. The king, before we went away, was very gay, and kissed hour hands, and we kissed
his. There came with us a brother of his, the king of another island, accompanied by three men.
The captain-general detained him to dine with us, and we gave him several things. In the island
belonging to the king who came to the ship there are mines of gold, which they find in pieces as
big as a walnut or an egg, by seeking in the ground. All the vessels which he makes use of are
made of it, and also some parts of his house, which was well fitted up according to the custom
of the country, and he was the handsomest man that we saw among these nations. He had very
black hair coming down to his shoulders, with silk cloth on his head, and two large gold rings
hanging from his ears, he had a cloth of cotton worked with silk, which covered him from the
waist to the knees, at his side he wore a dagger, with a long handle which was all of gold its
sheath was of carved wood. Besides he carried upon him scents of storax and benzoin. He was
tawny and painted all over. The island of this king is named Zaluan and Calagan, and when this
two kings wish to visit one another they come to hunt in this island where we were. Of these
kings the painted kings is called Raia Calambu, and the other Raia Siani.

On Sunday, the last day of March, and feast of Easter, the captain sent the chaplain ashore
early to say mass, and the interpreter went with him to tell the king that they were not coming on
shore to dine with him, but only to hear the mass. The king hearing that sent two dead pigs.
When it was time for saying mass, the captain went ashore with fifty men, not with their arms,
but only with their swords, and dressed as well as each one was able to dress, and before the
boats reached the shore our ships fired six cannon shots as a sign of peace. At our landing the
two kings were there, and received our captain in a friendly manner, and placed him between
them, and then we went to the place prepared for saying mass, which was not far from the
shore. Before the mass began the captain threw a quantity of musk rose water on those two
kings, and when the offertory of the mass came, the two kings went to kiss the cross like us, but
they offered nothing, and at the elevation of the body of our Lord they were kneeling like us, and
adored our Lord with joined hands. The ships fired all their artillery at the elevation of the body
of our Lord. After that the captain had some sword-play by his people, which gave great
pleasure to the kings. Then he had across brought, with the nails and crown, to which the kings
made reverence, and the captain had them told that these things which he showed them were
the sign of the emperor his lord and master, from whom he had charge and commandment to
place it in it all places where he might go or pass by. He told them that he wished to place it in
their country for their profit, because if there came afterwards any ships from Spain to those
islands, on seeing this cross, they would know that he had been there, and therefore they would
not cause them any displeasure to their persons nor their goods; and if they took any of their
people, on showing them this sign, they would at once let them go. Besides this, the captain told
them that it was necessary that this cross should be placed on the summit of the highest
mountain in their country, so that seeing it every day they might adore it, and that if they did
thus, neither thunder, lightning, nor the tempest could do them hurt. The kings thanked the
captain, and said they would do it willingly. Then he asked whether they were Moors or
Gentiles, and in what they believed. They answered that they did not perform any other
adoration, but only joined their hands, looking up to heaven, and that they called their God, Aba.
Hearing this, the captain was very joyful, on seeing that, the first king raised his hands to the sky
and said that he wished it were possible for him to be able to show the affection which he felt
towards him. The interpreter asked him for what reason there was so little to eat in that place, to
which the king replied that he did not reside in the place except when he came to hunt and to
see his brother, but that he lived in another island where he had all his family. Then the captain
asked him if he had any enemies who made war upon him, and that if he had any he would go
and defeat them with his men and ships, to put them under his obedience. The king thanked
him, and answered that there were two islands the inhabitant of which were is enemies;
however, that for the present is was not the time to attack them. The captain therefore said to
him that if God permitted him to return another time to this country, he would bring so many men
that he would put them by force under his obedience. Then he bade the interpreter tell them that
he was going away to dine, and after that he would return to place the cross on the summit of
the mountain. The two kings said they were content, and on that they embraced the captain,
and he separated from them. (“First Voyage Round the World/Pigafetta’s Account of Magellan’s
Voyage – Wikisource, the free online library,” n.d.)

While-reading activity Content Analysis of the Important Historical Information Found in the
Document
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Post reading activity Contribution and Relevance of the Document in Understanding the Grand
Narrative of Philippine History
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Relevance of the Document to the Present Time

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Readings 2: (Proclamation) Act of Proclamation of Independence of the Filipino People

Pre-reading Activity Background of the Author

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

In the town of Cavite-Viejo, Province of Cavite, this 12th days of June 1898:

BEFORE ME, Ambrosio Rianzares Baustista, War Counsellor and Special Delegate designated
to proclaim and solemnize this Declaration of Independence by the Dictatorial Government of
the Philippines, pursuant to, and by virtue of, a decree issued by the Engregious Dictator Don
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy.

The undersigned assemblage of military chiefs and others of the army who could not attend, as
well as representatives of the various towns. Taking into account the fact that the people of this
country are already tired of bearing the ominous joke of Spanish domination. Because of
arbitrary arrests and abuses of the Civil Guards who cause deaths in connivance with and ever
under the express orders of their superior officers who at times would order the shooting of
those placed under arrest under the pretext that they attempted to escape in violation of known
Rules and Regulations, which abuses were left unpunished, and because of unjust deportations
of illustrious Filipinos, especially those decreed by General Blanco at the instigation of the
Archbishop and friars interested in keeping them in ignorance for egoistic and selfish ends,
which deportations were carried out through processes more execrable than those of the
Inquisition which every civilized nation repudiates as a trials without hearing.

Had resolved to start a revolution in August 1896 in order to regain the independence and
sovereignty of which the people had been deprived by Spain through Governor Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi who, continuing the course followed by his predecessor Ferdinand Magellan who
landed on the shores of Cebu and occupied said Island by means of a Pact of Friendship with
Chief Tupas, although he was killed in the battle that took placed in said shores to which battle
he was provoked by Chief Kalipulako of Mactan who suspected his evil designs, landed of the
Island of Bohol by entering also into a Blood Compact with its Chief Sikatuna, with the purpose
of later taking by force the Island of Cebu, and because his successor Tupas did not allow him
to occupy it, he went to Manila, the capital, winning likewise the friendship of its Chiefs Soliman
and Lakandula, later taking possession of the city and the whole Archipelago in the name of
Spain by virtue of an order of King Philip II, and with these historical precedents and because in
international law the prescription establish by law to legalize the vicious acquisition of private
property is not recognized, the legitimacy of such revolution cannot be put in doubt which was
calmed but not complete stifled by the pacification proposed by Don Pedro A.Paterno with Don
Emilio Aguinaldo as President of the Republic established in Biak- na-Bato and accepted by
Governor-General Don Fernando Primo De Rivera under terms, both written and oral, among
them a being a general amnesty for all deported and convicted persons; that by reason of the
non-fulfillment of some of the terms, after the destruction of the plaza of Cavite, Don Emilio
Aguinaldo returned in order to initiate a new revolution and no sooner had he given the order to
rise on the 31st of last month of several towns anticipating the revolution, rose in revolt on the
28th , such that a Spanish contingent of 178 men, between Imus Cavite- Viejo, under the
command of major of the Marine Infantry capitulated, the revolutionary movement spreading like
wild fire to other towns of Cavite and the other provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, Batangas,
Bulacan,Laguna,and Morong,some of them with seaports and such was the success of the
victory of our arms, truly marvelous and without equal in the history of colonial revolution that in
the first mentioned province only the Detachments in Naic and Indang remained to surrender;
in the second all Detachments had been wiped out; and the third the resistance of the Spanish
forces was localized in the town of san Fernando where the greater part of them are
concentrated, the remainder in Macabebe, Sexmoan , and Guagua;in the fourth, in the town of
Lipa;in the fifth ,in the Capital and Calumpit; and in last two remaining provinces, only in their
respective capitals, and the city of Manila will soon be besieged by our forces as well as the
province of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, Zambales, and some others in the
Visayas where he revolution at the time of the pacification and others even before, so that the
independence of our country and the revindication of our sovereignty is assured.

And having as witness to the rectitude of our intensions the Supreme Judge of the Universe,
and under the protection of our Powerful and Humanitarian Nation, The United States of
America, we do hereby proclaim and declare solemnly in the name by the authority of the
people of these Philippine Islands.

That they are and have the right to be free and independent; that they have ceased to have
allegiance to the crown of Spain; that all political ties between them are should be completely
severed and annulled; and that, like other free and Independent States, they enjoy the full
power to make War and Peace, conclude commercial treaties, enter into alliances, regulate
commerce, and do all other acts and things which and Independent State Has right to do and
imbued with firm confidence in Divine Providence, we hereby mutually bind ourselves to support
this Declaration with our lives, our fortunes, and with our sacred possession, our Honor.

We recognized, approve, and ratify, with all the orders emanating from the same, the
Dictatorship established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo whom we revere as the Supreme Head of this
Nation, which today begins to have a life of its own, in the conviction that he has been the
instrument chosen by God, inspite of his humble origin, to effectuate the redemption of this
unfortunate country as foretold by Dr. Don Jose Rizal in his magnificent verses which he
composed in his prison cell prior to his execution, liberating it from the Yoke of Spanish
domination, and in punishment for the impunity with which the Government sanctioned the
commission of abuses by its officials, and for the unjust execution of Rizal and others who were
sacrificed in order to please the insatiable friars in their hydropical thirst for vengeance against
and extermination of all those who oppose their Machiavillian ends, trampling upon the Penal
Code of these Islands; and of those suspected person arrested by the Chiefs of Detachments at
the instigation of the friars, without any forms nor semblance of trial and without any spiritual aid
of our sacred Religion; and likewise; and for the same ends, eminent Filipino priest, Doctor Don
Jose Burgos, Don Mariano Gomez, and Don Jacinto Zamora were hanged whose innocent
blood was shed to the intrigues of these so-called Religious corporation which made the
authorities to believe that the military uprising at the fort of San Felipe in Cavite on the night of
January 21, 1872 was instigated by those Filipino martyrs, thereby impeding the execution of
the decree-sentence issued by the Council of State in the appeal in the administrative case
interposed by the secular clergy against the Royal Orders that directed that parishes under
them within the jurisdiction of this Bishopric be turned over to the Recollects in exchange for
those controlled by them in Mindanao which were to be transferred to the Jesuits, thus revoking
them completely and ordering the return of those parishes, all of which proceeding are on file
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to which they are sent last month of the year of the issuance
of the proper Royal Degree which, in turn, caused the grow of the tree of the liberty in our dear
land that grow more and more through the iniquitous measures of oppressions, until the last
drop of our chalice of suffering having been drained, the first spark of revolution broke out in
Caloocan, spread out to Santa Mesa and continued its course to the adjoining regions of the
province were the unequalled heroism of its inhabitants fought a one sided battle against
superior forces of General Blanco and General Polavieja for a period of 3 months, without
proper arms nor ammunitions, except bolos, pointed bamboos, and arrows.

Moreover , we confer upon our famous Dictator Don Emilio Aguinaldo all the powers necessary
to enable him to discharge the duties of Government, including the prerogatives of granting
pardon and amnesty, and lastly, in was result unanimously that this Nation, already free and
independent as of this day, must use the same flag which up to now is being used, whose
designed and colored are found described in the attachment drawing, the white triangle
signifying the distinctive emblem of the famous Society of the “KATIPUNAN” which by means of
its blood compact inspired the masses to rise in revolution; the tree stars, signifying the three
principal Island of these Archipelago-Luzon, Mindanao, and Panay where the revolutionary
movement started; the sun representing the gigantic step made by the son of the country along
the path of Progress and Civilization; the eight rays; signifying the eight provinces-Manila,
Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas-which declares
themselves in a state of war as soon as the first revolt was initiated; and the colors of Blue, Red,
and White, commemorating the flag of the United State of America, as a manifestation of our
profound gratitude towards this Great Nation for its disinterested protection which it lent us and
continuous leading us. 93 signatories who solemnly swear to recognize and defend it unto the
last drop of their blood.
In witness thereof, I certify that this Act of Declaration of Independence was signed by me and
by all those here assembled including the only stranger who attended those proceedings, a
citizen of the U.S.A., Mr. L.M. Johnson, a Colonel of Artillery.

Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista

War Counsellor and Special Delegate-Designate
(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Philippine_Declaration_of_Independence

While-reading activity Content Analysis of the Important Historical Information Found in

the Document
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Post reading activity Contribution and Relevance of the Document in Understanding the
Grand Narrative of Philippine History
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Relevance of the Document to the Present Time

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Readings 3: (Speech) Speech before the Joint Session of the United State Congress
(1986) by Corazon Aquino

Pre-reading Activity Background of the Author

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Mr. Speaker, Senator Thurmond, Distinguished members of Congress, 3 years ago I left
America in grief, to bury my husband Ninoy Aquino. I thought I had left it also, to lay to rest his
restless dream of Philippine freedom. Today, I have returned as the President of a free people.

In burying Ninoy, a whole nation honored him by that brave and selfless act of giving honor to a
nation in shame recovered its own. A country that had lost faith in its future, founded in a
faithless and brazen act of murder. So, in giving we receive, in losing we find, and out of defeat
we snatched our victory.

For the nation, Ninoy became the pleasing sacrifice that answered their prayers for freedom.
For myself and our children, Ninoy was a loving husband and father. His loss, three times in our
lives was always a deep and painful one.

Fourteen years ago this month, was the first time we lost him. A President turned dictator and
traitor to his oath, suspended the constitution and shut down the Congress that was much like
this one before which I’m honored to speak. He detained my husband along with thousands of
others- Senators, publishers, and anyone who had spoken up for the democracy as its end drew
near. But for Ninoy, a long and cruel ordeal was reserved. The dictator already knew that Ninoy
was not a body merely to be imprisoned but a spirit he must break. For even as the dictatorship
demolished one-by-one; the institutions of democracy, the press, the congress, the
independence of judiciary, the protection of the Bill of Rights, Ninoy keep their spirit alive in
himself. The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They looked him up in a
tiny, nearly airless cell in a military camp in the north. They stripped him naked and held a threat
of a sudden midnight execution over his head. Ninoy held up manfully under all of it. I barely did
as well. For forty-three days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to him. This
was the first time my children and I left we had lost him.

When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for subversion, murder, and a host of other crimes
before a military commission. Ninoy challenged its authority and went on a fast. If he survived it,
then he felt God intended him for another fate. We had lost him again. For nothing would hold
him back from his determination to see his fast through to the end. He stopped only when it
dawned on him that the government would keep his body alive after the fast had destroyed his
brain. And so, with barely any life in his body, he called off the fast on the 40th day. God meant
him for other things, he felt. He did not known that an early death would still be his fate, that only
the timing was wrong.

At any time during his long ordeal, Ninoy could have made a separate peace with a dictatorship
as so many of his countrymen had done. But the spirit of democracy that inheres in our race
and animates this chamber could not be allowed to die. He held out in the loneliness of his cell
and the frustration of exile, the democratic alternative to the insatiable greed and mindless
cruelty of the right and the purging holocaust of the left.

And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than in the past. The news came to us in
Boston. It had to be after the three happiest years of our lives together. But his death was my
country’s resurrection and the courage and faith by which alone they could be free again. The
dictator had called him a nobody. Yet, two million people threw aside their passivity and fear
and escorted him to his grave. And so began the revolution that has brought me to democracy’s
most famous home, the Congress of the United States.

The task had fallen on my shoulders, to continue offering the democratic alternative to our
people.

Archibald Macleish had said that democracy must be defended by arms when it is attacked by
arms, and with truth when it is attacked by lies. He failed to say how it shall be won.

I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of democracy. I held out for
participation in the 1984 election the dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be rigged. I was
warned by the lawyers of the opposition, that I ran the grave risk of legitimizing the foregone
result of elections that were clearly going to be fraudulent. But I was fighting not for lawyers but
for the people in whose intelligence, I had implicit faith. By the exercise of democracy even in a
dictatorship, they would be prepared for democracy when it came. And then also, it was the only
way I knew by which we could measure our power even in the terms dictated by the
dictatorship.

The people vindicated me in a election shamefully marked by government thuggery and fraud.
The opposition swept the elections, garnering a clear majority of the votes even if they ended
up (thanks to a corrupt Commission on Elections) with barely a third of the seats in Parliament.
Now, I knew our power.

Last year, in an excess of arrogance, the dictatorship called for its doom in a snap election. The
people obliged. With over a million signatures they drafted me to challenge the dictatorship. And
I, obliged. The rest is the history that dramatically unfolded on your television screens and
across the front pages of your newspapers.
 You saw a nation armed with courage and integrity, stand fast by democracy against threats
and corruption. You saw women poll watchers break out in tears as armed goons crashed the
polling places to steal the ballots. But just the same, they tied themselves to the ballots boxes.
You saw a people so committed to the ways of democracy that they were prepared to give their
lives for its pale imitation. At the end of the day before another way of fraud could distort the
result, I announced the people’s victory.

Many of you here today played a part in changing the policy of your country towards ours. We,
the Filipinos thank each of you for what you did. For balancing America’s strategic interest
against human concerns illuminates the American vision of the world. The co-chairman of the
United States observer team, in his report to the President said, “I was witness to an
extraordinary manifestation of democracy on the part the Filipino people. The ultimate result
was the election of Mrs. Corazon Aquino as President and Mr. Salvador Laurel as
Vice-President of the Philippines.”

When a subservient parliament announced my opponent’s victory, the people then turned out in
the streets and proclaim aided me the President of all the people. And true to their word, when a
handful of military leaders declared themselves against the dictatorship, the people rallied to
their protection. Surely, the people take care of their own. It is on that faith and the obligation it
entails that I assumed the Presidency.

As a came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it. That is my contract with my people and to my
commitment to God. He had willed that the blood drawn with a last shall not in my country be
paid by blood drawn by the sword but by tearful joy of reconciliation. We have swept away
absolute power by a limited revolution that respected the life and freedom of every Filipino.

Now, we are restoring full constitutional government. Again, as we restore democracy by the
ways of democracy, so are we completing the constitutional structures of our new democracy
under a constitution that already gives full respect to the Bill of Rights. A jealously independent
constitutional commission is completing is draft which will be submitted later this year to a
popular referendum. When it is approved, there will be elections for both national and local
positions. So, within about a year from a peaceful but national upheaval that overturned a
dictatorship, we shall have returned to full constitutional government.

Given the polarization and broken down inherited, this is no small achievements. My
predecessor set aside democracy to save it from it communist insurgency that numbered less
than five hundred. Unhampered by respect for human rights he went at it with hammer and
tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had grown to more than sixteen thousand. I think
there is a lesson here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with a means by which it grows.
I don’t think anybody in or outside our country, concerned for a democratic and open
Philippines doubts what must be done. Through political initiatives and local re-integration
programs, we must seek to bring the insurgents down from hills and by economic progress and
justice, show them that which the best intentioned among them fight. As president among my
people, I will not betray the cause of peace by which I came to power. Yet, equally and again,
no friend of Filipino democracy will challenge this. I will not stand by and allow an insurgent
leadership to spurn our offer of peace and kill our young soldiers and threaten our new freedom.
Yet, I must explore the path of peace to the utmost. For at its end, whatever disappointment I
meet there is the moral basis for lying down the Olive branch of peace and taking up the sword
of war.

Still, should it come to that, I will not waiver from the course laid down by your great liberator.
“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see
the right, let us finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds. To care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and for his orphans to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Like Abraham Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy. Like Lincoln, I
don’t relish it. Yet, I will do whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country.
Finally, may I turn to that other slavery: our $26 billion foreign debt. I have said that we shall
honor it. Yet, the means by which we shall be able to do so are kept from us. Many of the
conditions imposed in the previous government that stole this debt, continue to be imposed on
us who never benefited from it.

And no assistance or liberality commensurate with the calamity that was vested on us have
been extended. Yet ours must have been the cheapest revolution ever. With little help from
others, we Filipinos fulfilled the first and the most difficult condition of the debt negotiation, the
full restoration of democracy and responsible government. Elsewhere and in others times, a
more stringent world economic conditions, marshal plans and their like were felt to be
necessary companions of returning democracy.

When I met with President Reagan, we began an important dialogue about cooperation and the
strengthening of friendship between our two countries. That meeting was both a confirmation
and a new beginning. I am sure it will lead to positive result in all areas of common concern.
Today, we face the aspiration of a people who have known so much poverty and massive
unemployment for the past 14 years. And yet offer their lives for the abstraction of democracy.

Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished village. They came to me with one
cry, democracy. Not food although they clearly needed it but democracy. Not work, although
they surely wanted it but democracy. Not money, for they gave what little they had to my
campaign. They didn’t expect mo to work a miracle that would instantly put food into their
mouths, clothes on their back, education in their children and give them work that will put dignity
in their lives. But I feel the pressing obligation to respond quickly as the leader of the people so
deserving for all these things.

We face a communist insurgency that feeds on economic deterioration even as we carry a great
of the free world defenses in the Pacific. These are only two of the many burdens my people
carry even as they try to build a worthy and enduring house for their new democracy. That may
serve as well as a redoubt for freedom in Asia. Yet, no sooner as one stone laid than two are
taken away. Half our export earnings, $2 billion dollars out of $4 billion dollars which is all we
can earn in the restrictive market of the world, must go to pay just the interest on a debt whose
benefit the Filipino people never received.

Still we fought for honor and if only for honor, we shall pay. And yet, should we have to ring the
payments from the sweat of our men’s faces and sink all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s
two-hundred fifty years of unrequited toil. Yet, to all Americans, as the leader to a proud and
free people, I address this question, “Has there been a greater test of national commitment to
the ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone through? You have spent many lives
and much treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here,
you have a people who wants it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.” Three
years ago I said, Thank you America for the haven from oppression and the home you gave
Ninoy, myself and our children and for the three happiest years of our lives together. Today I
say, join us America as we build a new home for democracy; another haven for the oppressed
so it may stand as a shining testament of our two nations’ commitment to the freedom.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZnnvbKyNCQ.)

While-reading activity Content Analysis of the Important Historical Information Found in

the Document
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Post reading activity Contribution and Relevance of the Document in Understanding the
Grand Narrative of Philippine History
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Relevance of the Document to the Present Time

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________