Activity 2 – Primary Source Analysis Tool
Name: Irish Jane L. Avila
Name of Instructor: Prof. Ludivena Lagrio
Class Schedule: MTH 2:30-4:00 PM
SET A. Observe – Reflect- Questions
Analyze the following pre-Hispanic Philippine sources using the guide questions provided below.
LAGUNA COPPERPLATE INSCRIPTION, c. 900 AD
(1) 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 (2) Monday. At that
time, Lady Angkatan together with her relative, Bukah by name, (3) the child of His
Honor Namwran, was given, as a special favor, a document of full acquittal, by the
Chief and Commander2 of Tundun (4) representing the Leader of Pailah,
Jayade~a.~ This means that His Honor Namwran, through the Honorable Scribe4
(5) was totally cleared of a salary-related5 debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna (weight of
gold): in the presence of His Honor the Leader of Puliran, (6) Kasumuran; His
Honor the Leader of Pailah, representing Ganasakti; (and) His Honor the Leader
(7) of Binwangan, representing Bisruta. And, with his whole family, on orders of the
Chief of Dewata (a), representing the Chief of Mdang, because of his loyalty as a
subject (slave?)' of the Chief, therefore all the descendants (9) 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 (10) there is someone, whosoever,
Date: March 28, 2022
CODE OF KALANTIAW, c. 1433
Article I - Ye shall not kill, neither shall ye steal nor shall ye hurt the aged, lest ye incur the danger of death. All those who
this order shall infringe shall be tied to a stone and drowned in a river or in boiling water.
Article II - Ye shall punctually meet your debt with your headman. He who fulfills not, for the first time shall be lashed a
hundredfold, and If the obligation is great, his hand shall be dipped threefold in boiling water. On conviction, he shall be
flogged to death.
Article II- Obey ye: no one shall have wives that are too young, nor shall they be more than what he can take care of, nor
spend much luxury. He who fulfils not, obeys not, shall be condemned to swim three hours and, for the second time, shall
be scourged with spines to death.
Article IV - Observe and obey ye: Let not the peace of the graves be disturbed; due respect must be accorded them on
passing by caves and trees where they are. He who observes not shall die by bites of ants or shall be flogged with spines
till death.
Article V - Obey ye: Exchange in food must be carried out faithfully. He who complies not shall be lashed for an hour. He
who repeats the act shall, for a day be exposed to the ants.
Article VI - Ye shall revere respectable places, trees of known value, and other sites. He shall pay a month's work, in gold
or money, whoever fails to do this; and if twice committed, he shall be declared a slave.
Article VII - They shall die who kill trees of venerable aspect; who at night shoot with arrows the aged men and the
women; he who enters the house of the headman without permission; he who kills a fish or shark or striped crocodile.
Article VIII - They shall be slaves for a given time who steal away the women of the headmen; he who possesses dogs
that bite the headmen; he who burns another man's sown field.
Article IX - They shall be slaves for a given time, who sing in their night errands, kill manual birds, tear documents
belonging to the headmen; who are evil-minded liars; who play with the dead.
Article X - It shall be the obligation of every mother to show her daughter secretly the things that are lacivious and prepare
them for womanhood; men shall not be cruel to their wives, nor should they punish them when they catch them in the act
of adultery. He who disobeys shall be torn to pieces and thrown to the caymans.
Article XI - They shall be burned, who by force or cunning have mocked at and eluded punishment, or who have killed two
young boys, or shall try to steal the women of the old men (agurangs).
Article XII - They shall be drowned, all slaves who assault their superiors or their lords and masters; all those who abuse
their luxury; those who kill their anitos by breaking them or throwing them away.
Article XIII - They shall be exposed to the ants for half a day, who kill a black cat during the new moon or steal things
belonging to the headmen.
Article XIV - They shall be slaves for life, who having beautiful daughters shall deny them to the sons of the headman or
shall hide them in bad faith.

sometime in the future, who will state that the debt is not yet acquitted of His
Honor. . .
OBSERVE
(What do you notice first?) What do you notice that you
did not expect? What do you notice that you can’t
explain? What do you notice that you didn’t earlier?
The use of numbers in the
transcribed inscription was the first
thing that caught my attention. I also
didn't actually expect the writing on
the inscription to be unfinished
owing to the use of an ellipsis rather
than a period. Furthermore, as I
previously stated, I've kept noticing
the numbers on the inscription and
have been unable to determine their
purpose up to this point. I didn't
notice first off that some of the
words in the inscription, such as
Commander2, Scribe4, and salary-
related5, have numbers in them. I'm
not certain whatever the numbers
represent, but I suppose they're
there for a specific purpose.
On the other hand, I happened to
notice that the Code of Kalantiaw is
written in an archaic style of language,
implying that the code was established
long ago and that the Datu's are still
present. Also, it is somewhat similar to
the 10 commandments in the bible;
however, people is required to adhere
Article XV - Concerning their beliefs and superstitions: they shall be scourged, who eat bad meat of respected insects or
herbs that are supposed to be good; who hurt or kill the young manual bird and the white monkey.
Article XVI - Their fingers shall be cut off, who break wooden or clay idols in their olangangs and places of oblation; he
who breaks Tagalan's daggers for hog killing, or breaks drinking vases.
Article XVII - They shall be killed, who profane places where sacred objects of their diwatas or headmen are buried. He
who gives way to the call of nature at such places shall be burned.
Article XVIII - Those who do not cause these rules to be observed, if they are headmen, shall be stoned and crushed to
death, and if they are old men, shall be placed in rivers to be eaten by sharks and crocodiles.
REFLECT QUESTIONS
(Where do you think this came from? Why do you think somebody made this? What do you think (What do you wonder about…
was happening when this was made? Who do you think was the audience for this item> What
tool was used to create this? Why do you think this item is so important? If somebody made this Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
today, what would be different? What can you learn from examining this?
The first image shows an artifact written in ancient writing on a In terms of the Laguna
sheet of copper plate metal that was most possibly discovered in Copperplate Inscription, I'm
the province of Laguna. As for the language of the interested in knowing if this
inscription, Sanskrit, Old Malay, and Old Javanese are likely to was the Philippines' first official
have had a strong bearing on the inscription's language. The debt settlement. And how did
document ultimately acts as a royal debt amnesty. It is an official anthropologists come across
declaration relieving the late Namwaran's heirs from indebtedness this valuable relic? What
in the amount of raw gold. Hence , both the type script and the evidence do they have to base
language of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription demonstrate that their interpretations on? The
this region was not separated from the entirety of Southeast Asia Code of Kalantiaw, on the
as formerly supposed. According to Western historians, we are other hand, is believed to be
distinguished from the rest of Asia, and the 300 years of Spanish devoid of evidence, which is
control in the Philippines influenced our knowledge. The why it is regarded as a "hoax."
significance of this revelation is that it rectifies Philippine history In my viewpoint, the legitimacy
from the past. of this source should be
disputed because when did the
The Code of the Kalantiaw, on the other hand, seems to be more Philippines ever produce such
hard to decipher because the codes (articles) were only offered as a savage set of laws?
indicators regarding the source. However, out of curiosity, I Historians dismiss the
discovered that this code is regarded as a mythical legal code in Kalantiaw tale as a source of
the famous Maragtas epic tale. Because it is assumed to be linked information. So where did
to the Ati-atihan celebration, the origin of the Code has been Kalantiaw come from if he
relocated from Negros to the Panay province of Aklan. Because of wasn't a historical man or a
its dubious reliability and correctness, it became a divisive issue mythological figure?
and was dubbed a "disputed document." According to certain Altogether, I'm not sure if these
sources, the Kalantiaw Code is not regarded one of the Philippine pre-Hispanic sources should
histories due to a lack of historical evidence. There are no written or be regarded primary sources.
 this code provided to them by the
leader of the community. Overall, I
would consider these pre-Hespanic
Philippine materials to be primary
sources.
visual records from that period of Philippine history. This document,
in my perspective, is a search for and investigation of all sources
we have to substantiate any information.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION (What more do you want to know, and how can you find out?)

I'd like to gain more knowledge about the causes for the creation of these two pre-Hispanic Philippine sources. What culture was
involved in the creation of the two sources? And why is the other (Laguna Copperplate Inscription) regarded as historical? Therefore ,
in order for me to properly comprehend and identify those reasons, I must employ the historical skills required for analysing and
assessing such a situation. Certainly, reading and thinking like a historian is essential. All of these methods were devised in order to
determine where they came from and to aid in the formulation of their goal.

SET B. CITATION PRACTICE

Write the correct citation of the following:

1. Title: Knossos Mythology – History Guide to the Archaeological Site

Author: Antonis Vassilakis
Publisher: Adam Editions
City Published: Athens
Editor: Costas Adam
Date Published: 2002

Adam, Costas (Ed.). Knossos Mythology-History Guide to the Archaeological Site . Athens: Adam Editions, 2002.

2. Title: The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary

Author: Antoon Postma
Associated Institution: Ateneo de Manila University
Publisher: Philippine Studies
City Published: Quezon City
Volume: 40, no. 2; pp-183-203
Date Published: 1992
URL: http://www.philippinestudies.net

Postma, Antoon. “The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary.” Philippine Studies, vol. 40, no. 2, Ateneo de Manila
University, 1992, pp. 183–203, http://www.philippinestudies.net.
 3. Title: Quezon’s Game
Director: Matthew Rosen
Performers: Raymond Bagatsing, Rachel Alejandro, David Bianco, Kate Alejandrino
Production Companies: ABS-CBN Film Productions; Kinitek
Distributed by: Star Cinema
Release Date: 29 May 2019

Quezon's Game. Directed by Matthew Rosen, performances by Raymond Bagatsing, Rachel Alejandro, David Bianco, and Kate
Alejandrino, ABS-CBN Film Productions & Kinitek, 2019 .

SET C. SHORT-ESSAY REVIEW

Give reasons why is it important to know the origin and purpose of every sources used in a historical inquiry.

Every source's purpose is the main cause it was created in the first place. We can actually figure out why the source was created based
on what we know about the author and the intended recipient. Using primary sources allows us to learn about crucial historical topics. We realize
that every piece of recorded history is a reflection of the author's perspective of events in the past. Hence  , we can identify the perceptual essence
of a historical account as we read it. These kind pf sources assist us in the development of our knowledge, skills, and analytical thinking. We start
asking inquiries, think critically, draw intelligent conclusions, and generate logical reasons and perceptions of events that occurred in the past and
present when we investigate the nature and purpose of the sources.