Dizon, Erica Thea Gale F.

Essay On: The reason/s- in what Dr. Jose Rizal noted in his Annotations of Morga's Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinos that - "some legal provisions implemented by the Spanish in the Philippines were already
part of the pre-Hispanic customary law".

Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas was one of the most important works during the Spanish colonization in
the Philippines, it was published in Mexico in the year 1609 by Antonio De Morga and was annotated by
Dr. Jose Rizal. Antonio de Morga wrote that his purpose for writing Sucesos was to highlight the deeds
achieved by the Spaniards in the discovery, conquest, and conversion of the Filipinas Islands-as well as
the fortunes that they have from time to time in the great kingdoms and among the pagan people
surrounding the islands. Taking these issues and scopes of Morga’s claims Rizal then argues that the
conversion and conquest were not as widespread as it was portrayed to be in Morga’s work and that it
was because the missionaries were only successful in conquering only a portion of the population of
certain islands.

During the Spanish Era the executive and judicial departments of government were present in the
Philippines during Spanish colonial rule. Since Spanish law governed the islands at the time, there was
no legislative branch. In the Philippines, only laws that the Governor General ordered were created. The
Governor General was in charge of the government at the time. He was regarded as the King of Spain's
representative. He is the island's highest ranking official, in charge of enforcing mother country laws.
Except for those personally appointed by the King of Spain, he also has the authority to appoint or
remove a government official or a parish priest. The provinces on the island were known as
"Encomienda," and they were governed by "Encomienderos," who were later replaced by "Alcalde
Mayors." During this time the "Encomienda" system was put in place. It is a system under which the king
has the authority to delegate authority over a specific land to any Spanish individual or institution.
Individuals with the right to "encomienda" were referred to as "Encomienderos."

An "Encomiendero" is a person who has the authority to collect taxes from the people under his
jurisdiction. He also has the responsibility to care for and look out for the interests of those citizens.
Unfortunately, some "encomienderos" abused the "encomienda" system. Many of them use the
"encomienda" for personal gain. Other Legal provisions implemented were the principles on succession
such as the basic distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children-these laws proved the high
degree of culture and morality of ancient Filipinos.

Therefore Rizal's intention and very reason in publishing his annotated version of de Morga's Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas (Events of the Philippine Islands, originally published in 1609) as stated in his
dedication: “If the book succeeds in awakening in you the consciousness of our past which has been
obliterated from memory and in rectifying what has been falsified and calumniated, I shall not have
labored in vain, and on such basis, little though it may be, we can all devote ourselves to studying the
future”.

Since Jose Rizal was an earnest seeker of truth, he had a burning desire to know exactly the conditions
of the Philippines when the Spaniards came to the islands. His purpose was not only to provide the
Filipino people with their early history, a pre-Spanish history, but also to present to them their own
authentic culture and identity to which he believed that the conquest of the Spaniards contributed to
the decline of the Philippine’s rich tradition and culture.