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winL.Vi
l
lanuev
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1

1.Localhi
storyat
temptst
oreconst
ructt
hehist
oryofaplacetounder
standhowthewaypeopl
e
l
ivedconnectstothecommunit
y'
spresentandfut
ure.Makeresear
chonthehist
oryofuour
l
ocali
ty.

Thecr i
ticalimpor t
anceofl ocalhist
oryi nt heunder standingandt hewr itingofat rul
ynat ional
historycannotj ustbei gnored.Ther ational ebehi ndt heneedt ocomeupwi thl
ocalhistoryisthe
reali
zat i
onoft heunr epresentativ
eandl imitednat ureofPhi l
ippinehi story .Whatisgener all
y
consi deredt obet hehi storyoftheFilipinopeopl ei sessent iall
yt hehi storyofCent ralLuzon,
mostespeci all
yt heTagal ogs.Importantev ent sanddev elopment s,includi ngpersonages,
par t
icularlyint heVi sayasandMi ndanao, are, atbest ,ment ionedi npassi ngand, atworst ,
altogetherl eftout .Theconsequence, inthi srespect ,isthemi srepresent at ionofPhil
ippine
historybynott akingi ntofullaccounttheuni quedi f
ferential characteroft hehistori
caland
culturalexper iencesoft hev ari
ouset hnicgr oupsi nscat teredgeogr aphi cal uni
tsofthecount ry.

Hist ori
ans- -bothFili
pinoandf orei
gn- -ar enotal toget hertobebl amedf ort heki ndofPhi li
ppine
historiest heyhav ecomeupwi th.Thepr oblem l i
esi nthenatureofPhi li
ppi nehi stor
iography
whi chwas.f orsomet ime, ti
edupt ot her igidli
mi tati
onsofWest erncrit
eriaorst andards;thatis,
historicalwr i
tinghastobebasedonwr i
ttensour ces." Nodocument ,nohi story,"asthesay i
ng
goes.I nf act,evenintheuseofwr it
tensour ces, primar ymaterial
swer etheonl yones
consi deredt ober el
iable.Becauseoft hi
s, theabsenceofwr i
ttenmat eri
alsdonebyFi l
ipi
nosi n
theirownl ocalit
ieshasl argelybeeni nstrument alinlimiti
ngthet asksofnat i
onal histori
ans.
Thus, what everdatahav ebeeni ncorpor atedbyt hem i nPhili
ppinehistoryhav ebeender i
ved
from col onialsourceswhi char e,inthef irstplace, regardedasbi asedsour ces.Inshor t,nati
onal
historianshav ebeenhandi cappedbyt hi
sadher encet oagener al
lyaccept edhi stori
cal approach
whi chof fersv er
ylit
tl
ei nformat ionandunder t
akingf orapeopl ewhosev iewoft heirhistoryand
struggl esis,perhaps,most lyfoundi nt heiror alli
terature.