Gumtang, Nessah Mae R.

ABBS-2A

Annotations of Rizal to Morga

Rizal learned about each country's history, customs, way of life, and language during his

travels. He believed that learning a people's language "will open the treasures of a country, that

is, the knowledge, the learning" and "its own way of thinking." Although he was fascinated by

the collage of cultural symbols that become embraced by a people as their own national identity,

he was even more fascinated by the social and scientific progress he witnessed abroad and

understood the factors that lead to such advancement.

Rizal's discovery of Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas was a happy accident. He had

been conceptualizing the Filipino as a people with a unique civilisation that had been destroyed

by colonization, rather than as a people who were equal to their Spanish colonizers. Rizal

discovered the answer to his question in Morga's book, which he chose to reprint with his

additions. Rizal's goal was to show the Filipinos their own real culture and identity, not just a

pre-Spanish history. He chose the Sucesos because he "considered 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," according

to his annotations. His annotations included clarifications and amplifications of details,

refutations of statements where necessary, and confirmations when checked against other

sources. He considered this book for the reason that the book is rare and Morga, in Rizal's

opinion, was more "objective." Also, it was the only civil history of the Philippines written

during the colonial period, as opposed to religious or ecclesiastical history. Morga's history is
noteworthy since he had access to survivors from the colony's early days and was a participant in

many of the narratives he provided.

Rizal was able to anticipate the inevitability of national independence for the people of

the Philippines as well as encourage the growth of the sense of national unity among them

through his studies on Philippine history from this perspective.