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RIZAL Chapter 11
RIZAL Chapter 11
Brgliif Hr
Alatas, Syed Farid. 2011. “Rizal and the Sociology of Colonial
Society.” Conference Paper read at the Rizal@150
Conference, 22-24 June 2011, University of the Philippines. CHAPTER 11
igi^gjf(N:(y;bBilfiCTrVES
VOCABULARY
By September 1889, Rizal decided to publish the annotations
Audiencia - the Royal Audiencia or the royal court of Justice in Spain himself in Gamier Hermanns, a printing press based in Paris.
and its colonies Rizal’s choice of annotating Morga’s work among all
ecclesiastics - the religious missionaries other early chronicles written by Spaniards is not coincidental.
Historian Ambeth Ocampo provides five reasons behind Rizal’s
secular - having ideas and attitudes not determined by any religious
choice.
bias
The first
reason, according to Ocampo, was the fact that
Morga s work in its original Spanish edition was rare. In fact, the
original Spanish text had never been reprinted in full until Rizal
published his annotations in 1889. Second, unlike other early
Antonio Morga was a Spanish administrator who served Spanish chronicles written by ecclesiastics, Morga was a civil
in the Philippines in the late sixteenth century. He was born in administrator and therefore provided a secular view of historical
Seville in 1559 and began working for the government in 1580. events during the early Spanish colonial period. This second ’
He served as the Lieutenant-Governor—second most powerful reason relates to Rizal’s belief that a secular account was more
position in the colony—of the Philippines in 1593 and then as credible than those written by religious missionaries, which is
a judge of the Audiencia in 1598. By 1615, he moved to Mexico the third reason for his choice. Fourth, it was more sympathetic
where he served as the president of the Audiencia. He was later towards the natives in contrast to the biased accounts written
investigated for corruption and was found guilty. Before being by the friars. Finally, Morga’s work was a fitting choice because
sent to the gallows, however, he died in 1636. he was an eyewitness to historical events that occurred in the
Philippines during the period of early Spanish colonization.
Morga’s work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, was published
in 1609 in Mexico and consisted of eight chapters. The first With the publication of his annotations to Sucesos, Rizal
seven chapters dealt with the terms of the governor-generals who presented an outline of a linear conception of history. While Noli ■;
had served in the Philippines from the time of Miguel Lopez de Me Tdngere dealt with the nineteenth century or Rizal’s present,
Legazpi in 1565 to Pedro de Acuna in 1606. The last chapter, and El Filibusterismo and the essay titled “The Philipines a
titled “An account of the Philippine Islands,” provided ample Century Hence covered the future, the annotations of Sucesos
descriptions of early Filipinos upon the arrival of the Spaniards tackled the past.
in the sixteenth century. More than an
attempt to write the country’s history,
While at the British Museum in late 1889, Rizal found a however, Rizal s annotation of Morga’s Sucesos must also be
copy of the first edition of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas seen within the context of the Propaganda Movement. At a
Filipinas and began copying the text by hand. He annotated time when Filipino propagandists were clamoring for reforms
the work along the way with the intention of creating a critical in Spain, presenting a critical narrative of the country’s history
work on the history of the Philippines. Despite hopes of getting might be considered as an endeavor to create a sense of national
the work published through the help of Antonio Regidor, Rizal consciousness or identity that was anchored on a glorious past.
ended up with no publisher when his annotations were done. Whereas early Spanish chroniclers ridiculed the early Filipinos
130 The LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL looking at the Filipino Past 131
identity within an oppressive colonial framework. In the rivers and streams there are very large and
small scorpions and great number of very fierce and
ACTIVITY 1
cruel crocodiles which frequently get the natives from
Critical Reading their bancas on which they ride... However much the
people may trap, catch and kill them, these reptiles hardly
Read the following excerpts from Rizal’s annotations of seem to dimmish in number. For this reason, the natives
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. Answer the questions that build on
the border of their rivers and streams in their
follow.
settlements where they bathe, traps and fences with thick
enclosures and bars of bamboo and timber within which
Excerpt 1 they do their bathing and washing, secure from these \
monsters which they fear and respect to the degree of
Morga: veneration, as if they were somehow superior to them.
Their regular daily food is rice... together with boiled Rizal’s annotation:
fish of which there is an abundance, and pork or venison,
likewise meat of wild buffalo or carabao. They prefer Perhaps for the same reason, other nations have great
meat and fish, saltfish which begin to decompose and esteem for the lion and bear, putting them on their shields
smell. and giving them honorable epithets. The mysterious life
of the crocodile, the enormous size that it sometimes
Rizal’s annotation:
reaches, its fatidical aspect, without counting any more
This is another preoccupation of the Spaniards who, its voraciousness, must have influenced greatly the
like any other nation, in the matter of food, loathe that imagination of the Malayan Filipinos.
to which they are not accustomed or is unknown to
them. The English, for example, is horrified on seeing Questions
a Spaniard eating snails; to the Spaniard beefsteak is
1.
repugnant and he can't understand how raw beefsteak In Excerpt 1, what impression of the Filipinos do you get
can be eaten; the Chinese who eat tahuri and shark from reading Morga’s description of the type of food
cannot stand Roquefort cheese, etc., etc. The fish the natives eat? Which particular phrase gives you this
impression?
that Morga mentions does not taste better when it is
beginning to rot; all on the contrary: it is bagoong and all
those who have eaten it and tasted it know that it is not
or ought not to be rotten.
LOOKING AT THE FILIPINO PAST 133
132 THE LIFE AND WORKS OF lose RIZAL
SUMMARY