Introduction to History Module 1 Session 1

About History
 History became known as the account of the past of a person or of a group of people through written
documents and historical evidences.
 It is thus important to ask: What counts as history?
 Traditional historians lived with the mantra of "no document, no history."
 It means that unless a written document can prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be considered
as a historical fact.
 Giving premium to written documents essentially invalidates the history of other civilizations that do not
keep written records.
 Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is also discrimination against other social classes who
were not recorded in paper.
 Does the absence of written documents about them mean that they were people of no history or past?
 This loophole was recognized by historians who started using other kinds of historical sources, which may
not be in written form but were just as valid.

About the History and the Historians

 Therefore, it is the historian's job not just to seek historical evidence and facts but also to interpret these
facts. "
 Meanwhile, the historian is not a blank paper who mechanically interprets and analyzes present historical
fact.
 In that sense, his interpretation of the historical fact is affected by his context and circumstances.
 Thus, in One way or another, history is always subjective.
 If that is so, can history still be considered as an academic and scientific inquiry?
 Historical research requires rigor.
 In doing so, historical claims done by historians and the arguments that they forward in their historical
writings, while may be influenced by the historian's inclinations, can still be validated by using reliable
evidences and employing correct and meticulous historical methodology.

Historical References
 In general, historical sources can be classified between primary and secondary sources.
 The classification of sources between these two categories depends on the historical subject being
studied.
 Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history.
 However, historians and students of history need to thoroughly scrutinize these historical sources to avoid
deception and to come up with the historical truth.
 The historian should be able to conduct an external and internal criticism of the source, especially primary
sources which can age in centuries.
 Internal criticism, on the other hand, is the examination of the truthfulness of the evidence.
 Validating historical sources is important because the use of unverified, falsified, and untruthful historical
sources can lead to equally false conclusions.
 Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources
Module 2 Session 2

All about Antonio Pigafetta’s “The First Voyage Around the World”
 This book was taken from the chronicles of contemporary voyagers and navigators of the sixteenth
century.
 One of them was Italian nobleman Antonio Pigafetta, who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his fateful
circumnavigation of the world.
 Pigafetta's work instantly became a classic that prominent literary men in the West like William
Shakespeare, Michel de Montaigne, and Giambattista Vico referred to the book in their interpretation of the
New World.
 Pigafetta's travelogue is one, of the most important primary sources in the study of the precolonial
Philippines.
 His account was also a major referent to the events leading to Magellan's arrival in the Philippines, his
encounter with local leaders, hib death in the hands of Lapulapu's forces in the Battle of Mactan, and in the
departure of what was left of Magellan's fleet from the islands.
 Examining the document reveals several insights not just in the character of the Philippines during the
precolonial period, but also on how the fresh eyes of the Europeans regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain,
environment, people, and culture.
 Thus, Pigafetta's account was also written from the perspective of Pigafetta himself and was a product of
the context of its production.
 The First Voyage Around the World by Magellan was published after Pigafetta returned to Italy.

The Arrival of Magellan in Homonhon Island

 The fleet went to Humunu Island (Homonhon) and there they found what Pigafetta referred to as the
"Watering Place of Good Signs."
 It is in this place where Pigafetta wrote that they found the first signs of gold in the island.
 They named the island with the nearby islands as the archipelago of St. Lazarus.
 They left the island, then on March 25th, Pigafetta recounted that they saw two ballanghai (balangay), a
long boat full of people in Mazzava/ Mazaua.
 The leader, who Pigafetta referred to as the king of the ballanghai (balangay), sent his men to the ship of
Magellan.
 Magellan sent the interpreter to the king and asked for money for the needs of his ships and expressed
that he came into the islands as a friend and not as an enemy.
 After a few days, Magellan was introduced to the king's brother who was also a king of another island.
 They wept to this island and Pigafetta reported that they saw mines of gold.

The Battle of Mactan

 The king of Cebu swore that he would always be faithful to Magellan.
 When Magellan reiterated that all of the newly baptized Christians need to burn their idols, but the natives
gave excuses telling Magellan that they needed the idols to heal a sick man who was a relative to the king.
 Magellan insisted that they should instead put their faith in Jesus Christ.
  They went to the sick man and baptized him.
 After the baptismal, Pigafetta recorded that the man was able to speak again.
 On the 26th of April, Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan (Mactan) went to see Magellan and
asked him for a boat full of men so that he would be able to fight the chief named Silapulapu (Lapulapu).
 Such chief, according to Zula, refused to obey the king and was also preventing him from doing so.
 Magellan's forces arrived in Mactan in daylight.
 Magellan died in that battle.
 Magellan was specifically targeted because the natives knew that he was the captain general.
 Magellan was hit with a lance in the face.
 Seeing that the captain has already deteriorated, more natives came to attack him.
 One native with a great sword delivered a blow in Magellan's left leg, brought him face down and the
natives ceaselessly attacked Magellan with lances, swords, and even with their bare hands.

All about Pigafetta’s Chronicle Analysis

 The chronicle of Pigafetta was one of the most cited documents by historians who wished to study the
precolonial Philippines.
 Indeed, Pigafetta's work is of great importance in the study and writing of Philippine history.
 Nevertheless, there needs to have a more nuanced reading of the source within a contextual backdrop.
 In the case of Pigafetta, the reader needs to understand that he was a chronicler commissioned by the
King of Spain to accompany and document a voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire.
 In reading Pigafetta's description of the people, one has to keep in mind that he was coming from a
sixteenth century European perspective.
 It should be understood that such observations were rooted from the context of Pigafetta and of his era:
Europe, for example, was dominated by the Holy Roman Empire, whose loyalty and purpose was the
domination of the Catholic Church all over the world.
 Aside from this, the sixteenth century European economy was mercantilist.
 The obsession with spices might be odd for Filipinos because of its ordinariness in the Philippines, but
understanding the context would reveal that spices were scarce in Europe and hence were seen as
prestige goods.
 In that era, Spain and Portugal coveted the control of Spice Islands because it would have led to a certain
increase in wealth, influence, and power.

Kartilya ng Katipunan (KKK)

 The Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan is arguably
the most important organization formed in the Philippine history.
 While anti-colonial movements, efforts, and organizations had already been established centuries prior to
the foundation of the Katipunan, it was only this organization that envisioned (1) a united Filipino nation
that would revolt against the Spaniards.for (2) the total independence of the country from Spain.
 Previous, armed revolts had already occurred before the foundation of the Katipunan, but none of them
envisioned a unified Filipino nation revolting against the colonizers.
 The imagination of the nation was largely absent in the aspirations of the local revolts before Katipunan.
 In the conduct of their struggle, Katipunan created a complex structure and a defined value system that
would guide the organization as a collective aspiring for a single goal.
 One of the most important Katipunan documents was the Kartilya ng Katipunan.
 The Kor "Lessons of the Organization of the Sons of Country."
 The document was written by Emilio Jacinto in the 1896.
 Jacinto was only 18 years old when he joined the movement.
Analysis of the "Kartilya ng Katipunan" Important thing to know
 As a document written for a fraternity whose main purpose is to overthrow a colonial regime, we can
explain the content and provisions of the Kartilya as a reaction and response to certain value systems that
they found despicable in the present state of things that they struggled against with.
 For example, the fourth and the thirteenth rules in the Kartilya are an invocation of the inherent equality
between and among men regardless of race, occupation, or status.
 Moreover, one can analyze the values upheld in the document as consistent with the burgeoning rational
and liberal ideals in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
 The teaching of the Katipunan on how women should be treated with honor and respect, while positive in
many respects and certainly a significant stride from the practice of raping and physically abusing women,
can still be telling of the Katipunan's secondary regard for women in relation to men.
 It is not known by many for example, that the white triangle was derived from the symbol of the Katipunan.
 The red and blue colors of the flag are often associated with courage and peace, respectively.
 While it can always be, argued that symbolic meaning can always change and be reinterpreted, the
original symbolic meaning of something presents us several historical truths, that can explain the
subsequent events, which unfolded after the declaration of independence on the 12th day of June 1898.

"Proclamation of the Philippine Independence"

 As mentioned earlier, a re-examination of the document on the declaration of independence can reveal
some often-overlooked historical truths about this important event in Philippine history.
 Aside from this, the document reflects the general revolutionary sentiment of that period.
 However, no mention was made about the more serious problem that affected the masses more
profoundly (i.e., the land and agrarian crisis felt by the numerous Filipino peasants in the nineteenth
century).
 This tells us a lesson on taking primary sources like official government records within the circumstance of
this production.
 Studying one historical subject, thus, entails looking at multiple primary sources and pieces of historical
evidences in order to have a more nuanced and contextual analysis of our past.

Cory Aquino's Speech

 Cory Aquino's speech was an important event in the political and diplomatic history of the country because
it has arguably cemented the legitimacy of the EDSA government in the international arena.
 The speech talks of her family background, especially her relationship with her late husband, Ninoy
Aquino.
 In her speech, Cory talked at length about Ninoy's toil and suffering at the hands of the dictatorship that he
resisted.
 Moreover, her attribution, of the revolution to Ninoy's death demonstrates not only Cory's personal
perception on the revolution, but since she was the president, it also represents what the dominant
discourse was at that point in our history.
 Despite Cory's efforts to hoist herself as the exact opposite of Marcos, her speech still revealed certain
parallelisms between her and the Marcos's government.
 The Aquino regime, as seen in Cory's acceptance of the invitation to address the U.S. Congress and to the
content of the speech, decided to build and continue with the alliance between the Philippines and the
United States and effectively implemented an essentially similar foreign policy to that of the dictatorship.
 Controversies and Conflicting Views in Philippine History
Module 3 Session 3

About Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take Place in the Philippines
 The popularity of knowing where the "firsts" happened in history has been an easy way to trivialize history,
but this case study will not focus on the significance (or lack thereof) of the site of the First Catholic Mass
in the Philippines, but rather, use it as a historiographical exercise in the utilization of evidence and
interpretation in reading historical events.
 Butuan has long been believed as the site of the first Mass. In fact, this has been the case for three
centuries, culminating in the erection of a monument in 1872 near Agusan River, which commemorates
the expedition's arrival and celebration of Mass on 8 April 1521.
 The Butuan claim has been based on a rather elementary reading of primary sources from the event.
 Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth century, together with the
increasing scholarship on the history of the Philippines, a more nuanced reading of the available evidence
was made, which brought to light more considerations in going against the more accepted interpretation of
the first Mass in the Philippines, made both by Spanish and Filipino scholars.

The Cavite Mutiny: What Happened?

 The year 1872 is a historic year of two events: the Cavite Mutiny and the martyrdom of the three priests:
Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, later on immortalized as GOMBURZA.
 These events are very important milestones in Philippine history and have caused ripples throughout time,
directly influencing the decisive events of the Philippine Revolution toward the end of the century.
 While the significance is unquestioned, what made this year controversial are the different sides to the
story, a battle of perspectives supported by primary sources.
 In this case study, we zoom in to the events of the Cavite Mutiny, a major factor in the awakening of
nationalism among the Filipinos of that time.

Rizal Retraction
 Jose Rizal is identified as a hero of the revolution for his writings that center on ending colonialism and
liberating Filipino minds to contribute to creating the Filipino nation.
 It is understandable, therefore, that any Piece of writing from Rizal that recants everything he wrote
against the friars and the Catholic Church in the Philippines could deal heavy damage to his image as a
prominent Filipino revolutionary.
 This document, referred to as "The Retraction," declares Rizal's belief in the Catholic faith, and retract;
everything he wrote against the Church.

The Cry of Rebellion, When and Where?

 Journalists of the time referred to the phrase "El Grito de Rebelion" or "Cry of Rebellion" to mark the start
of these revolutionary events, identifying the places where it happened.
 In the Philippines, this happened in August 1896, northeast of Manila, where they declared rebellion
against the Spanish colonial government.
 The controversy regarding this event stems from the identification of the date and place where the Cry
happened.
 A monument to the Heroes of 1896 was erected in what is now the intersection of Epifanio de los Santos
(EDSA) Avenue and Andres Bonifacio Drive-North Diversion Road, and from then on until 1962, the Cry of
Balintawak was celebrated every 26th of August.
 Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Issues in Philippine
History
Module 4 Session 4
Philippine Constitutions and Evolutions
 The constitution is defined as a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which
a state or other organization is governed, thus, the word itself means to be a part of a whole, the coming
together of distinct entities into one group, with the same principles and ideals.
 These principles define the nature and extent of government.
 The Constitution of the Philippines, the supreme law of the Republic of the Philippines, has been in effect
since 1987.
 There were only three other constitutions that have effectively governed the country: the 1935
Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution, and the 1986 Freedom Constitution.
 However, there were earlier constitutions attempted by Filipinos in the struggle to break free from the
colonial yoke.

Agarian Reform
 It is also focused on the political and economic class character of the relations of production and
distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how these connect to the wider class structure.
 Through genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform, the Philippines would be able to gain more from its
agricultural potential and uplift the Filipinos in the agricultural sector, who have been, for the longest time,
suffering in poverty and discontent.
 In our attempt to understand the development of agrarian reform in the Philippines, we turn our attention to
our country's history, especially our colonial past, where we could find the root of the agrarian woes the
country has experienced up to this very day.

Landownership in the Philippines under Spain

 When the Spaniards arrived, they brought with them a pueblo agriculture system, in which rural
communities, which were often dispersed and scattered in nature, were organized into pueblos and given
land to produce.
 Families were not allowed to possess their land; it was owned by the King of Spain, and Filipinos were
allocated to these properties to cultivate them in exchange for colonial contributions in the form of
agricultural products.

Landownership in the Philippines under the Americans

 The Americans were aware that the main cause of social unrest in the Philippines was landlessness, and
they attempted to put an end to the deplorable conditions of the tenant farmers by passing several land
policies to increase the small landholders and distribute ownership to a bigger number of Filipino tenants
and farmers.
 The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided regulations on the disposal of public lands.
 Americans were also given rights to own agricultural lands in the country.
 Not all friar lands acquired by the Americans were given to landless peasant farmers.
 The system introduced by the Americans enabled more lands to be placed under tenancy, which led to
widespread peasant uprisings, such as the Colorum and Sakdal Uprising in Luzon.
Taxation in Philippines
 In exchange for the taxes that people pay, the government promises to improve the citizens' lives through
good governance.
 Taxation, as a government mechanism to raise funds, developed and evolved through time, and in the
context of the Philippines, we must understand that it came with our colonial experience.

Philippines Constitution
 The Constitution is a written instrument (document) that establishes, limits, and defines the fundamental
powers of government, and distributes these powers among numerous ministries for safe and effective
execution for the benefit of the people.
 The Constitution of the Philippines is the constitution or supreme law of the Republic of the Philippines.
 Local History, Museums, And Overview of Mindanao History
Module 5 Session 5
Cultures In Mindanao
 Mindanao also has the largest concentration of ethnic minorities in the Philippines. They include the
Magindanao, Maranao, Ilanun, and Sangil; all are Muslim groups sometimes collectively called the Moro.
Groups usually found in the uplands include the T'boli, Subanon, Bukidnon, Bagobo, Mandaya, and
Manobo.
 Mindanao is a cultural tapestry. It is home to 18 Lumad tribes, 13 ethnic-linguistic Moro tribes and 64
settler groups who have lived in the island for over a century already. Mindanao is an island of peoples
with diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural differences.
 Mindanao is a Muslim outpost in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines. Although Muslims are no
longer a majority, Islamic culture is evident; there are many mosques, and distinctive brassware, including
the kris, or dagger, is manufactured.
 My Portfolio in
Ngec II

By: Jersam John L. Rojas