Following are the reasons why Rizal choose re-printing Morga rather than other Spanish

chronicles and why he recommends Morga to his countrymen:

1. Rare
Morga Sucesos was written so rarely. Even few libraries that have a copy of it would guard it as if it is an
historical artifact just like any Inca treasure. More so, the book has never been re-produced in full not
until Rizal. With this, Rizal re-printed the original Spanish text of 1609, and his edition appeared on the
press in 1889, Paris.
2. Civil
Rizal believed and felt that Morga was more civil as opposed to other religious history of the Philippines
written amidst the colonial period. For over two centuries, the only printed secular history of the
Philippines was Morga. Not just this what was presented in the press was not the history of the
Philippines but of Spanish. Whereas Rizal would like to point out the actual history of Philippines during
the Spanish regime. With his ambitious undertaking, Rizal did expedite the general history of the
Philippines, written in the point of view of the indio.
3. Objective
The third consideration of Rizal in choosing Morga was his stance that the book is more objective and
trustworthy than any religious write ups done by missionaries and Spanish officials. Since the historical
write-ups produced by Spanish settler bureaucrats dealt more on church history and not on the history
of the Philippine’s itself and its people which was sprinkled in tales of miracles and apparitions. Truly,
Rizal believed that Morga was a faithful chronicle in his time, even if there were things the author would
like to cover up for political reasons, he never alters historical events. This made Rizal choose Morga
among all historic works.
4. Sympathetic to the Indios
According to Rizal, the original book was believed to be more sympathetic to the Indios. As opposed to
the friar accounts where they were biased or racist in sound and interpretation. This reason was
evidenced by Rizal’s letter to Blumentritt in 1888 where he conveyed his personal agreement for
Morga. He stated that the book was excellent and written simply but there is so much substance
between the lines.
5. Evidence of first contact with Spain
Rizal’s last reason was that Morga was prima facie evidence and eyewitness on Philippines’ first contact
with Spain’s colonialism. Just as he believed that Morga was objective and trustworthy, meaning the
written historical events were the true and actual happenings in the history. Rizal emphasized that the
Pre-Hispanic Philippines had their own culture and do not need help of the civilization quoted by the
Spaniards. Some of this were metallurgy, ship-building industry, China’s trade contracts, and the
system of writing. Thus, it could flourish and develop into something great minus Spain.
In general, Rizal’s intention was not limited in providing Filipinos with the actual pre-Spanish
colonialism history, but to convey that Filipinos or Indios back then have their own authentic culture
and identity.