LONG QUIZ IN READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Essay: 100 pts.-25 pts. For each question

1. Explain the significance of the first mass in the Philippine Islands to our country at present?

- The first mass in the Philippine Island is significant to our country at the present as the first holy
mass conducted near the shores of the island marked the birth of Roman Catholicism in the
Philippines, it introduces the Christianity towards us that paved the way for its widespread along
Asia. It is significant as that important event started our religious practices that we are still doing up
to until now. Catholicism was still evident in the Philippines up to this day where in 1565, it was
further propagated throughout the islands when the Philippines was colonized by Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi that led to where we are at the present. Catholicism helped shape our identity as Filipinos
that is why the first mass in the Philippines and its history is significant to us and to our country at
the present.

1. What is your personal stand about the site of the first mass in the Philippines? Prove your point.

- For me, it is important to know where the first mass was really held as it paved the way for the
spread of Christianity in Asia and Catholic Institutions has a great responsibility to correct history
based on facts backed up by archeological evidence if there is a dire need for it to be corrected as it
was not less important and in fact one of the most necessary things for us to know about as that
history is where it all began including more specifically, our present. As for me, I think that the first
mass in the Philippines which is Easter Sunday Mass happened in the Limasawa Island in Southern
Leyte in 1521 as the Italian and French version of Italian Chronicler Antonio Pigafetta’s accounts in
the Megellan-Elcano expedition showed the coordinates of the 1521 Easter Sunday Mass are closer
to Limasawa. The first Easter Sunday Mass officiated by Fr. Pedro Valderrama was held in
Limasawa Island in Southern City, not Butuan City in Agusan del Norte following the discovery of
the Philippines by Ferdinand Magellan as there is no point in the itinerary did the Magellan
expedition go to Butuan or any other point on the Mindanao coast, the survivors of the expedition
only go to Mindanao later after his death. Also, the 1971 expedition of naval historian Samuel Eliot
Morison and Colombian historian Mauricio Obregon and the accounts of Spanish naval engineer
Ignacio Fernandez Vial and merchant marine captain Jose Luis Ugarte retraced the Magellan-Elcano
voyage and concluded that Limasawa is the site of the first Catholic mass in the country. The
misconception of the first mass being held at Butuan, rather than Limasawa was because of the
incorrect representation of Magellan’s Voyage.
2. If the Cavite Mutiny did not happen, will it change the course of the Philippine Revolution?

- If the Cavite Mutiny did not happen, for sure the course of the Philippine Revolution will change as
well as the whole history. If it was not for the Cavite Mutiny that happens in 1872, the Filipino
Nationalism will not begin and the Philippine Revolution in 1896 would not happen. The Cavite
Mutiny of 1872 was an uprising of military personnel of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in
Cavite. The mutiny was unsuccessful and the government soldiers executed many of the participants
and began to crack down on a burgeoning nationalist movement. The three priests José Burgos,
Jacinto Zamora, and Mariano Gómez were publicly executed and the three subsequently
became martyrs to the cause of Philippine independence. If the Cavite Mutiny did not happen may
be we are still under the Spanish regime or it took long for us to feel most of our freedom and rights.
3. Explain: History will always be the story written by the victors and heard by the majority.

- “History will always be the story written by the victors and heard by the majority” means that people
who has a greater power, might be a political or cultural leaders that is considered on a “winning”
side of the history will always have the power to shape the historical narratives through a various
range of mediums, for instance, through school textbooks, public iconography, movies and many
more. The history is sometimes not grounded in facts, thus the so called “winners’ interpretation”
always prevails. Because they are dominant, influential and mighty, there works are often the one
that is being bought and fed to the people resulting for the many of the people to actually heard and
consume what they are saying. The victors can force their narrative down on the people and they can
have a huge influence to whatever opinion they will have and actions they will do. The given
statement was a negative one and can cause a great damage but the reality is that sometimes
historical facts do get twisted for petty gains and sometimes people are made to buy a blatant lie.