Unit 5 Significant Events in Philippine History

Unit Learning Outcomes

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

✔ Critically understand the significant events of the different stages of our Phil.
History.
✔ Describe the influence of political ideologies, economic structures, social
organization, cultural perspectives on historical events.
✔ Explain the relationship of historical events to our present times

Introduction

The significant historical events that have shaped the course of history are presented through
the various eras of Philippine history that the country has gone through. The discussion will
be divided as follows:
1. The Laguna Copperplate
2. The Balangiga Bells/Balangiga Massacre
3. The Callao Man

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 5.1 The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: An Ancient Text That Changed the
Perception of the History of the Philippines

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the name of an inscription inscribed on an artifact

that is vitally important for understanding the history of the Philippines during the 10th century
AD - a time when many historians believed the country was isolated from the rest of Southeast
Asia.
The Laguna Copperplate is a thin piece of
copper sheet that measures around 20 by 20 cm
(7.9 x 7.9 inches) and was fully covered on one
side with an inscription in ten lines of finely
written characters. This artifact was discovered in
1987 during dredging activities with a
mechanical conveyor in the Lumbang River,
which is located in the Province of Laguna. This
province is located to the east of Manila, the
Philippines' capital.
It is worth noting that the Laguna Copperplate only came to the notice of researchers in 1990,
when it was offered for sale to the National Museum in Manila, after previous attempts to sell it
on the antiques market had failed.
Antoon Postma, a Dutch expert in ancient Philippine scripts and Mangyan writing, translated
the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI) in 1990. When he saw that the writing resembled the
ancient Indonesian script known as Kavi and that the document had a date from the ancient Sanskrit
calendar, he sought the expertise of a fellow Dutchman, Dr. Johann de Casparis, who specialized
in ancient Indonesia.
Antoon Postma revealed that the inscription on the Laguna Copperplate is insufficient and it
is very likely that another identical piece of copperplate with inscriptions was lost. Postma stated
in an article published in 1992:
“Moreover, certain persons, after viewing a photo picture of the LCI, alleged,
without being asked, that they had seen a similar piece of copper- plate with inscriptions
around the same time (1987). Its importance, however, was not realized then, and the
possible second page of the LCI might have ended up in a local junk yard and been
irretrievably lost to posterity.”
The inscription on the preserved copperplate is interesting in and of itself, providing
sufficient material for analysis by scholars. For example, the script used in the Laguna Copperplate
Inscription has been identified as the 'Early Kawi Script,' a writing system that began on the
Indonesian island of Java and spread over most of maritime Southeast Asia in the tenth century
AD.

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 Furthermore, this script is claimed to have been originated from India's Pallava script. The
inscription's language has been shown to be highly influenced by Sanskrit, Old Malay, and Old
Javanese linguistically. Therefore, both the type script and language of the Laguna Copperplate
Inscription further demonstrate that the country was not isolated from the rest of Southeast Asia,
as previously reported.

Translation of LCI
“Hail! In the Saka-year 822; the month of March- April; according to the astronomer:
the fourth day of the dark half of the moon; on Monday. At that time, Lady Angkatan together
with her relative, Bukah by name, the child of His Honor Namwran, was given, as a special
favor, a document of full acquittal, by the Chief and Commander of Tundun representing the
Leader of Pailah, Jayadewa. This means that His Honor Namwran, through the Honorable
Scribe was totally cleared of a salary-related debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna (weight of gold),
in the presence of His Honor the Leader of Pulirán, Kasumuran; His Honor the Leader of
Pailah, representing Ganasakti; (and) His Honor the Leader of Binwangan, representing
Bisruta. And, with his whole family, on orders of the Chief of Dewata, representing the Chief
of Mdang, because of his loyalty as a subject (slave?) of the Chief, therefore all the
descendants of his Honor Namwran have been cleared of the whole debt that His Honor
owed the Chief of Dewata. This (document) is (issued) in case there is someone, whosoever,
some time in the future who will state that the debt is not yet acquitted of his Honor…”

The Saka era has its beginnings in India (supposedly marking the reign of the Kushan ruler
Kanishka), and the year 822 is believed to coincide with the year 900 AD in the Gregorian
calendar. The use of this calendar system further demonstrates that there were cultural ties between
this area of Southeast Asia and its neighbors, who were primarily under the cultural influence of
India at the time. The Philippines was already a society with international trading networks at the
time of the inscription's writing. This is emphasized by the reference to the Chief of the Medang
Kingdom in Indonesia, implying that the pre-Spanish Philippines already had strong cultural and
commercial ties to other empires in Southeast Asia.

This acquittal is also reported to have been validated by various officials/leaders, some of
whom have been identified along with their area of jurisdiction. "His Honor the Leader of Puliran,
Kasumuran; His Honor the Leader of Pailah, representing Ganasakti; (and) His Honor the Leader
of Binwangan, representing Bisruta" are among these authorities. The documentation of these
names also indicates that the Philippines in the 10th century AD had some form of political and
social system.

To summarize, while the Laguna Copperplate is unlikely to receive the same level of instant
public attention as gold or silver artifacts, it is an enormously significant artifact. This seemingly
significant relic has prompted a re-assessment of the Philippines' history before the arrival of the
Spaniards, particularly the 10th century AD, and the archipelago's relationship with the rest of
Southeast Asia.

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 5.2 The Bells of Balangiga: From Massacre to Memoryscape

The Balangiga Encounter of September 29, 1901

The Philippines is an archipelago of 7,641 islands located in Southeast Asia, and Samar,
along with the islands of Leyte and Biliran, constitute the Eastern Visayas Region or Region VIII.
In 1965, Samar was divided into three provinces: Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, and Western
Samar. Samar's inhabitants are referred to as “Samareños,” or as “Samarnons.” They speak the
Waray-Waray language, and the name Samar derives from the Waray-Waray word samad, which
means "wound." Balangiga is a municipality on Samar's southern coast (Figure 2), and its people
are referred to as “Balangigueños,” or as “Balangigan-ons.”

The Filipinos initiated an insurgency

against their Spanish oppressors in the early
1890s. When the United States declared war on
Spain in the spring of 1898, Gen. Emilio
Aguinaldo and other Filipino leaders assumed that
they had verbal promises from American
authorities that American troops would support
them in their struggle. When the US Navy
defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, the
rebels gained control of all islands except for
Manila. The Americans received 15,000 prisoners
from the Filipinos. The Americans, on the other
hand, made a secret agreement with the Spanish
in which the Spaniards agreed to surrender only to
the Americans. The United States Army
successfully kept Filipino rebels out of the city.
When it became clear that the United States had
no intention of granting the former colony
immediate independence, the revolutionaries
began resisting the Americans. Tensions Figure 1. The Philippines
increased as Filipino revolutionaries surrounded
Manila while it was controlled by US forces, and conflict started on February 4, 1899.

The Philippine Insurrection, as it was commonly referred to in the United States, lasted
three years, from 1899 to 1902, when the majority of Filipino soldiers surrendered. Other units
kept fighting for another decade. The Filipino opposition was particularly strong on Samar, the
archipelago's third biggest island. Furthermore, Samar represented the second most strong
opposition to American rule in the Philippines, where Vicente Lukban led the nationalist rebels.

On August 11, 1901, Company C of the Ninth United States Infantry Regiment landed at
Balangiga, to establish a garrison. Balangiga had a population of roughly 2,000 people at the time.
Capt. Thomas W. Connel, 29, took command of Company C and began treating them unjustly.

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Connell's first act was to tell the Balangigueños to cut down all the trees to provide the troops with
a clearer view of the land surrounding the town. This angered Lukban's rebels, who saw this as a
deprivation of food supplies, as some of the trees had fruit. Additionally, the rebels saw the
Balangigan-ons as growing too friendly with the Americans.

Then, on September 22, 1901, two drunken soldiers assaulted a young woman; she sought help,
and her brothers attacked the soldiers. Connell formed the Balangigueños, in response, holding
143 men in two tents in the town plaza. Two days later, Connell's men seized all the Balangigan-
ons' bolos, and on September 25, Connell's troops confiscated and burned the whole rice storage
on the excuse of cutting off supplies to the rebels. Threatened by Lukban's rebels and humiliated
by Connell, the Balangigueños resolved to "fight for their honor and right to peaceful living by
plotting against the Americans in their midst," as Borrinaga put it. Although Connell had many
watchmen on duty and demanded his troops be armed at all times, he allowed his soldiers to eat
their meals without their weapons, which remained safely stored in their barracks. Without a doubt,
both the head of police and the rebels took careful notice of this weakness.

The Attack

The garrison was attacked at breakfast on Sunday,

September 28, 1901, while the majority of the
troops were unarmed. The attack was signaled by
the ringing of the bells of St. Lawrence the Martyr
Church. The church doors slammed open and men
rushed out, bolos at the ready. It took a minute for
the soldiers to realize what was happening. The
mess tent was the main target (Figure 2). Many
American troops were assassinated where they sat.
Those who could fight back with whatever they had
at their hands. They threw stones and food cans at
the assailants. The chef splashed his assailant with
boiling water. While some troops were able to flee
the mess tent, twenty soldiers were found dead
Figure 2. The attack of Sept. 28, 1901, when Philippine
within minutes. insurgents, armed with machete-like bolos, killed 38 of the 74
men in Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry. Ayala Museum. Manila.
Out of 74 officers and men, 38 were immediately
killed. The 36 survivors made their escape to Basey by boat. Seven additional passengers died on
the voyage, and three more died from their wounds later. It is reported that out of these 74 men,
26 survived, with only four remaining unhurt. According to Linn, when the Americans heard of
the massacre, they were immensely outraged, prompting an "immediate outcry for vengeance." Fe
Campanero, Balangiga's Municipal Tourism, Culture, and Arts Officer and one of the narrators for
the Balangiga Encounter Day re-enactment, stated that the Americans "thought they were a
superpower and their ego was hurt because they were overpowered so badly."

The Revenge

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 In October 1901, in response to the attack, the US sent the Sixth Separate Brigade, a force
of 4,000 troops and 300 Marines, to occupy Samar. Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith, commander
of the Sixth Separate Brigade, commanded Major Littleton Waller, leader of the Marine Battalion,
to, ‘I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn. The more you kill and burn, the better you
will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms against the United States.’

The Sixth Separate Brigade is estimated to have killed or captured 759 rebels, killed 587
carabaos, burned tons of rice, 1,662 houses, and 226 boats between October 10 and December 31,
1901. Harassed by American forces, denied supplies, isolated from the people, and having their
movements monitored by Army intelligence, the revolutionaries on Samar were unable to
continue. The survivors were left to scavenge for food. On February 18, 1902, Lukban was
arrested, and the last of his supporters surrendered in April 1902. Despite the fact that the punitive
expeditions left Samar in ruins, Waller refused to carry out orders to execute ten-year-old’s or to
carry out summary executions. At his court martial, he was cleared of all accusations. Smith was
also subjected to a court martial. He was found guilty and discharged from the Army.

Balangiga Bells

Figure 3. Troops of the 11th U.S. Infantry brought a pair of church bells back to Fort D.A. Russell in 1904--war trophies
after bitter fighting in the Philippines. The bells remain on display today at F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne.
U.S. Air Force.

The Balangiga bells were confiscated by members of the 11th Infantry who occupied
Balangiga. Three bells from the church of St. Lawrence the Martyr were taken as war booty (Figure

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3). Two were held at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and one at Camp Red Cloud
in South Korea until December 15, 2018, when they were returned to Balangiga.

Samar's population declined from 13 percent to two percent of the Philippine population
between 1898 and 2015. The war ruined the island, according to Rolando Borrinaga, Secretary of
the National Committee on Historical Research of the National Commission on Culture and the
Arts, especially along the island's southern shore, where the Americans were especially brutal, and
their response was a "wounding of the wounded land." Because of the severity of the attack, the
outrage from the American public, and the strong vengeance, the incident remained a forbidden
topic in Balangiga for decades. The horror of the American retaliation remained among the
Balangiga residents for two reasons. First, the shock of its severity as a "steel typhoon." Second, a
sense of guilt for what had happened to the garrison. The war ended, but those in power in the
Philippines thereafter (the Americans) were the same individuals who had been brutally attacked
throughout the conflict. The Balangigan-ons were left with the uneasy feeling that more retaliation
was on the way.The establishment of the Balangiga Encounter Day in 1989 helped the
Balangigueños overcome the trauma of the attack and the American retaliation. According to
Borrinaga, "The residents of Balangiga themselves could not formally commemorate their
forefathers' commitment to independence until 1989, when the first Balangiga Encounter Day was
officially held."

Balangiga As a Memoryscape

Balangiga people began referring to

the events of September 28, 1901 as the
"Balangiga Encounter" in 1989. This all
started with the passage of Republic Act No.
6692, An Act Declaring September 28 as
Balangiga Encounter Day and a Special Non-
Working Holiday in the Province of Eastern
Samar. The first commemoration featured a
re-enactment of the events of 1901.
Memoryscapes are defined as "sites and
practices where the past is remembered
today." The re-enactment, which was
applauded in 1989, is an example of such an
activity, and, as a result, it is a memoryscape. Figure 4: Scene in the 2019 Re-enactment depicting the seizure of
The two-hour re-enactment begins with the the Bells of Balangiga
arrival of Company C, depicts the
establishment of a garrison, portrays the horrific acts inflicted on the Balangigueños, shows the
planning of the attack, vividly re-enacts the attack, depicts the retaliation (Figure 4), and, every
year from 1989 to 2018, concluded with a call for the return of the bells.

5.3 The Callao Man: A discovery of new human species

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 Individuals' fossilized bones unearthed in Callao Cave in Cagayan have been proven to
belong to a historically unknown species of prehistoric humans who roamed Luzon approximately
50,000 years ago. The new species, named Homo luzonensis.

It was discovered by a team of local and international scientists headed by archaeologist

and University of the Philippines professor Armand Salvador Mijares, who examined fossilized
bones unearthed during the 2007–2011 and 2015 Callao Cave excavations. Scientists had long
assumed the bone belonged to an entirely new species but were unable to prove it until the
discovery of more specimens.

The researchers, who included Florent Détroit of the French National Museum of Natural
History, stated in their article that the new species has unusually primitive traits, resembling both
early hominids (Australopithecus) and modern humans. And, while the insufficiency of fossils
limits researchers from creating a complete reconstruction, Mijares noted that the bones collected
indicate the species was smaller than modern humans. He added that the fossilized remains also
indicate that Homo luzonensis stood upright and may have been capable of climbing, but its
locomotor and manipulative abilities remain unknown. Mijares stated that the discovery
demonstrates the Philippines' importance in human evolutionary studies. The discovery expands
the genus Homo and establishes Southeast Asia as a critical evolutionary zone. It also prompted
additional doubts about its ancestry and how and when it arrived on Luzon Island. National
Museum director Jeremy Barns regarded the discovery as a watershed moment in the Philippines'
history of science. The discovery of the new human species is a game changer that highlights the
discovered sites of greater relevance and is a monument to our archaeologist's decades-long work
to raise awareness and appreciate the significance of Philippine sites.

Along with the UP Archaeological Studies Program, the National Museum of the
Philippines, and the French National Museum of Natural History, the Université de Poitiers,
Université Toulouse, and Université de Bordeaux in France, as well as Griffith University and
Australian National University in Australia, were involved in the research.

The scientists emphasized that additional research is necessary to address the new
discovery's ensuing questions, like where they originated from, when they arrived, the scope of
their presence, and how they became extinct. Mijares did not rule out the idea that Homo
luzonensis established itself on Luzon hundreds of thousands of years before the fossils were
discovered.

Separate studies published previously detailed the discovery of stone tools and slaughtered
animal bones in neighboring Kalinga, establishing the presence of prehistoric humans in the
Philippines as early as 709,000 years ago. Mijares speculated that the Homo luzonensis could be
the same toolmakers described in the research, although they have not yet discovered specific tools
used by the new species. The archaeologist also emphasized the need to determine when modern
humans arrived on Luzon, saying that there are still many "blank spots" in our understanding of

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the Philippines' evolutionary past. The Homo luzonensis fossils are currently displayed in the
Museum of Natural History.

Source:

Holden, W.N. (2020). “The bells of Balangiga: from massacre to memoryscape.”

Canadian Journal of tropical geography. https://www3.laurentian.ca/rcgt-
cjtg/volume1-issue1/the-bells-of-balangiga-from-massacre-to-memoryscape/?lang=en

The bells of Balangiga. (n.d.). WyoHistory.org | The Online Encyclopedia of Wyoming

History. https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/bells-balangiga

Mateo, J. (2019, April 12). Fossils of new human species discovered in Philippines
cave. Philstar Global.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/04/12/1909421/fossils-new-human-species-
discovered-philippines-cave

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