WORKSHEET 17

ESSAY. What are the major goals of Rizal in writing the Annotations of Antonio Morga’s

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?

Rizal's objective in Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events of the Philippine

Islands, originally published in 1609) was to give to the Filipino people their own real culture

and identity, not just their early past, a pre-Spanish history. He chose the Sucesos because he

"felt it necessary to invoke the testimony of an illustrous Spaniard who governed the destinies of

the Philippines in the beginning of her new era and witnessed the last moments of our ancient

nationality," despite knowing most of the books written about the Philippines. Clarifications and

amplifications of facts, refutations of assertions where appropriate, and confirmations when

tested against other sources were all included in his annotations. Before the arrival of the

Spaniards, the inhabitants of the Philippines had their own culture - Spanish colonialism

destroyed, demoralized, exploited, and ruined the Filipinos.

Rizal claims that his time's Philippines were no better than pre-Hispanic Philippines. He

believes it might have grown into something amazing on its own. Filipinos, according to Rizal,

have a writing system, excellent metallurgical expertise, and a shipbuilding industry. Rizal was

well aware that his work would be disliked by Spaniards, as it was forbidden in the Philippines.

Blumentritt, his buddy, is the work's first critic. He identified hindsight and

anticlericalism as fatal flaws in a purely scholarly endeavor in his book introduction. Rizal

exploited history to spread his message. For historians, it was too much propaganda, and for

propagandists, it was too historical. Rizal's Morga had set the tone for Philippine historiography

and identity by reconstructing the magnificent pre-Hispanic civilisation.