READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

(RED: TOPIC/TITLE, YELLOW: KEYWORDS/IMPORTANTS, GREEN: ADDITIONAL INFOS)

MEANING AND RELEVANCE OF HISTORY
SOCIOLOGIST
* the study of life in the past, in all its aspects, in relation to present developments and future hopes.
* focuses on the story of man in time, an inquiry into the past based on valid evidences.
* thrives on the evidence which validates the authenticity and credibility of an event.
HISTORY
* greek word “historia” which means inquiry or knowledge acquired from investigation.
* study of the past and as it is described in written document.
* provides the analysis and interpretation of the human past enabling us to study continuity and
changes that takes place over time.
DEFINITIONS OF HISTORY GIVEN BY HISTORIANS:
* Burckhardt - “the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another”
* Henry Johnson - “in its broadest sense, is everything that ever happens”
* V.S. Smith - “the value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the present is
illuminated by the past”
* Jawaharal - “the story of man's struggle through the ages against nature and the elements against wild beast
and the jungle and some of his own kind who have tried to keep him down and exploit him for their own
benefit”
NATURE OF HISTORY
1. A study of the present in the light of the past
2. The study of man
3. Concerned with man in time
4. Concerned with man in space
5. Provides an objective record of happenings
6. Multisided
7. Dialogue between the events of the past and progressively emerging future ends
8. Not only narration but it is also an analysis
9. Continuity and coherence are the necessary requisites of history
10. Relevant
11. Comprehensive
RELEVANCE OF HISTORY
1. Helps us understand people and societies
2. Contributes to moral understanding
3. Provides identity
 4. Essential for good citizenship
5. Useful in the world of work
PRIMARY SOURCES
* Provides direct firsthand evidence about an event, an object, a person, or a work of art.
* Provides original materials on which other research is based and enable students and other researchers to
get as close as possible to what actually happened during a particular event or era.
* Published materials, as long as they come from the time period that is being discussed, were written or
produced by someone with firsthand experience of the event.
PRINTING PRESS
* invented way back 14th century. The most reliable eyewitness report of an event may be memoirs,
autobiographies, oral interviews taken years of even centuries ago.
* manuscipts, sources for classical texts are copies of documents, or fragments of copies of documents. For
this reasons, history is usually taught using secondary sources.
* Witheld by private individuals or groups, available in archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, and
special collections.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRIMARY SOURCES
1. Literary or Cultural Sources
a. Novels, plays, poems, (both published in manuscript form)
b. Television shows, movies, or videos
c. Paintings or photographs
2. Accounts that described events, people, or ideas
a. Newspaper
b. Chronicles or historical accounts
c. Essays and Speeches
d. Memoirs, diaries, journals, and letters
e. Philosophical treaties or manifestors
3. Information about people
a. Census records
b. Obituaries
c. Newspaper articles
d. Biographies and autobiographies
4. Finding Information about place
a. Maps and atlases
b. Census
c. Statistics
d. Photographs
e. City directories
f. Local libraries and historical societies
5. Finding Information about an Organization
a. Archives (sometimes held by libraries, institutions, or historical societies)
THREE TYPES OF WRITTEN SOURCES
1. Narrative sources or Literary sources tell a story or message
a. diaries
b. films
c. biographies
d. leading philosophical works
e. scientific works
2. Diplomatic Sources
a. characters
b. legal documents
3. Social Documents
a. records created by organization such as register of births and tax records
SECONDARY SOURCES
* generally describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyse, evaluate, summarize, and process primary
source.
* materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or article found in
scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else’s original research.
In Historiography
* when a study of history is subject to historical scrutiny, a secondary source becomes a primary source.
In Documentary Films
* films are considered secondary or primary sources depending on how much the film maker modifies the
original source.
Identifying Text
* as the “primary source” may devolve from the fact that no copy of the original source materials exists, or
that it is oldest extant source for the information cited.
CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES
1. Identification of the historical importance of the text
2. Examination of the author’s main argument and point of view
3. The need for hard evidence-based document to prove a certain historical event to consider it as a fact
4. Historical data/evidences are sourced from artifacts that have
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
* considers specifically the time, place and situation when the primary source was written, the analysis as well
includes the author’s background authority on the subject and intent perceptible, and its relevance and
meaning to the people and society today.
THE ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY SOURCE- starts with content and context
* First, identify the author, audience and historical context of the source.
- an author may have a particular bias or position
- it is important to identify and acknowledge an author’s perspective or point of view as they begin to analyze
a primary source
FOUR-STEP ANALYSIS PROCESS in Identifying the Content and Context of a Primary Source
1. Observe: Consider the images, people, objects, activities, actions, words, phrases, facts and numbers.
2. Explain: What is the meaning of the objects, words, symbols, etc.
3. Infer: What sentiment (attitude or feeling) do you think the author is trying to convey through the source?
What, based on the source can you hear about the historical event or time period?
4. Wonder: What about the source makes you curious? What questions still remain? What additional
information would you need to know in order to deepen your understanding of the ideas expressed in the
source?
As a final step, summarize the central idea of the source by considering the author’s message and specific
supporting details.
SOME SUGGESTION FOR USING PRIMARY SOURCE FOR LEARNING
1. Use primary sources to collaborate secondary sources
- Provide with secondary interpretation: a recent newspaper article, an encyclopedia narrative, a passage from
a book. If the textbook provides an overly simplistic narrative; you can examine primary source on the subject
and rewrite the narrative.
2. Brainstorm dialogue of historical figure based on primary source analysis. The primary sources are the
catalyst for creativity and to contextualize a time period.
3. Move past the “main idea.”
- Think past the “main idea” or summary. Focusing in on vocabulary in context, corroborate multiple sources,
analyzing the point of view of the source, among others, are ways to condition historical thinking with rigor.
4. Let all people in history speak for themselves.
- If all the primary sources focus on politicians and notable figures, the everyday folks driving history, making
history, are left out.
5. Consider multiple formats of primary sources
- Primary sources are not always text-based. Analyze images, posters, photographs, cartoons, and many other
visual primary sources to learn content and build skills.
GUIDE FOR EVALUATING PRIMARY SOURCE TEXT

Purpose and motives of the author

Argument and strategy she/he uses to achieve those goals
Presuposition and values (in the text, and our own)
Epistemology (evaluating truth content)
Relate to other texts (compare and contrast)
PURPOSE: Why do you think he/she wrote it?
What evidences in the text tells you this?
Does the author have a thesis? What is that thesis?
ARGUMENT: What is the intended audience of the text? How might this influence its rhetorical strategy?
Do you think the author is credible and reliable?
PRESUPPOSITION: How do the values in the source differ from the ideas and values of our age?
How might the difference between our values and the values of the author influence the
way you understand the text?
EPISTEMOLOGY: How might this text support one of the arguments found in secondary sources you’ve read?
What kinds of information does this text tell you without knowing it’s telling you?
RELATE: Now choose another readings, and compare the two, answering these questions:
* What patterns or ideas are repeated throughout the readings?
* What major differences appear in them?
 * Which do you find more reliable and credible?
PRE – HISPANIC ERA
Katipunan and the Revolution: Memoirs of a General
by Santiago V. Alvarez
Translated by Carolina Malay About the Author
Santiago V. Alvarez (July 25, 1872 October 30, 1930), the only child of revolutionary general Mariano Alvarez
and Nicolasa Virata, was born in Imus but was raised in Noveleta, Cavite. He was known as Kidlat ng Apoy
(Lightning of Fire) because of his inflamed bravery and participation in the Battle of Dalahican.
Santiago was among the first in Cavite to take up arms against Spain. All through the Revolution, he fought
side by side with his father. In the 36-hours battle in Dalahican, one of the bloodiest encounters during the
Revolution, he scored a decisive victory and repulsed the Spanish troops.
When the American civil government was established in the Philippines in 1901, Santiago assisted in the
organization of the Nacionalista Party, where he later became president of its directorate.
During the 1920s, his memoirs were published in Sampaguita, a Tagalog weekly, in 36 installments (from July
24, 1927 to April 15, 1928). These were reproduced in book form and translated in English by Paula Carolina S.
Malay.
Malay graduated from the University of the Philippines. She taught economics at various universities during
the 1950s and 1960s. She turned to translation and writing during the martial law period.
The events I have related in this account of the Katipunan and the Revolution reverberate with shouts of Long
live our patriots!" and "Death to the enemy!" These were in answer to the enemy's assaults with mausers and
cannons, the latter fired from both land and sea.
The Magdiwang government honored me with an appointment as captain general, or head of its army. Gen.
Artemio Ricarte was lieutenant general.
I will now attempt to write down what I saw and what I know about the Katipunan and the Revolution. First, I
shall narrate the events relating to the Revolution beginning from 14 March 1896; then I shall deal with the
organization and activities of the Most Venerable Supreme Society of the Sons of the People
(Kamahalmahalan at Kataastaasang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan). The Katipunan account is based on
records which were entrusted to me by the original founder of the Katipunan.
In the interest of honorable truth, I shall now attempt to write a history of the Katipunan and the Revolution
which I hope will be acceptable to all. However, I realize that it is inevitable that, in the narration of actual
happenings, I shall run the risk of hurting the feeling of contemporaries and comrades-in-arms. I would like to
make it clear that I shall try to be as possible and that it is far from my intention of depreciate anyone's
patriotism and greatness.
I shall be honored if these memoirs become a worthy addiction to what Gen. Artemio Ricarte as already
published in this weekly.
On 14 March 1896, a Saturday, I accompanied Emilio F. Aguinaldo and Raymundo Mata to Manila for their
initiation into the Katipunan secret society. Messrs. Aguinaldo and Mata were prominent townsmen of Kawit
in Cavite, my home province. Reaching Manila at about five in the afternoon, we waited for the appointed
time at the quarters of Jacinto Lumbreras, a Katipunan member. He was the caretaker of the central
telephone exchange on San Jacinto Street in Binondo.
At about seven o'clock in the evening, a Katipunan director arrived to take us to the Katipunan headquarters.
Before leaving Lumbreras' place, my two companions were blindfolded. Then we got into a calesa Thorsecart
and reached the home of Andres Bonifacio, the Katipunan Supremo, after about an hour's ride. It was a
moonlight night and since the street was well-lit, we could see the house clearly. It was of moderate size, the
floor not too much raised from the ground; it had wooden walls and a roof thatched with mipa [ palm leaves].
The house was located on Cervantes Street (now Rizal Avenue) in the San Ygnacio area of Bambang. It was
surrounded by many guards, some of them police who were katipunan members. Directing operations was
Gregoria de Jesus, the wife of the Supremo Bonifacio.
Meanwhile, woman lookout was heard to say, "Cool!" which was the code word for "all clear". Shortly
afterward, the guides led the blindfolded into the house. The woman lookout told the guard, "They're all here.
Nobody else is coming. Alert your comrades about tighter security."
Or execution, they pledge to destroy oppression by signing their names in their own blood. When the ritual
was over, the happy crowd of Katipunar members warmly embraced the neophytes amid shouts "Brother!
Brother!"
Still blindfolded, the neophytes were then escorted down the house and cordially sent off with a repetition of
fraternal embraces. I then took over escorting Aguinaldo and Mata. When we had walked some distance from
the Supremo's house, I took off their blindfolds. We proceeded to comrade Jacinto Lumbreras' quarters at the
telephone exchange, where we retired for the night. Incidentally, Lumbreras' wife delivered a baby that night,
and we were witnesses to that event.
Emilio Aguinaldo asked me to accompany him to see the Supremo Bonifacio again to learn more about the
Katipunan. We made the trip to Manila on a Monday, 6 April 1896.
In those days, we Cavite folk traveled to and from Manila aboard Spanish vessels called "Ynchausti boats."
They bore names like "Isabel", "Dominga", and others. These vessels were purchased by Mr. Luis Yango; their
operations are now managed by his son, Teodor.
We left the pier at Cavite at seven in the morning, and an hour later we were in Manila. Aguinaldo went to the
port office to attend to some business while I waited outside. When he comes out after about ten minutes, he
was agitated. His face was flushed and his steps were longer than usual. I asked him what was the matter. He
was upset over the superciliousness of one Ramon Padilla, with whom he had exchange some sharp words. He
said that Padilla, who was a functionary in the port office, tried to impress people with superior airs but only
succeeded in showing how rude and uncouth he really was.
We talked while walking, and soon we reached Lavezares Street in Binondo where Dr. Pio Valenzuela was
living in a rented house. Dr. Valenzuela was then the provisional chairman of the Katipunan. In the house we
met the Supremo, Andres Bonifacio, his wife Gregoria de Jesus; Jose Dizon; and Dr. Valenzuela himself. We
were welcomed cordially with fraternal embraces They said that they already knew Mr. Aguinaldo, but they
did not recognize him since he had been blindfolded during their first encounter.
After we were all seated, we happily exchanged news and talked about the progress of the Katipunan. Once in
a while, brother Aguinaldo hesitated, which promoted the observant Bonifacio to ask solicitously if anything
was bothering him. I volunteered the information that he had had some unpleasant experience with an official
at the port office and that was what probably was on his mind. I had scarcely finished what I was saying when
the Supremo's face flushed and his voice shook as he said, "It is necessity to defend the honor of our brother
here."
Immediately, he sent Dr. Pio Valenzuela and Jose Dizon to the house of Ramon Padilla for redress to the
dishonor he had showed to brother Aguinaldo. In default of an apology, the two emissaries were to be
seconds in a duel. The Katipunan continued to spread. It was Good Friday in the month of April 1896. At nine
o'clock in the morning, the Supremo Andres Bonifacio, accompanied by Dr. Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto, and
Pantaleón Torres, arrived in the town of Noveleta, Cavite province to establish a provincial council of the
Katipunan.
The council came to be known as the Magdiwang. The following were its officers: Mariano Alvarez, president;
Pascual Alvarez, secretary; Dionisio Alvarez, treasurer; Valentin Salud, prosecutor; Benito Alix, sergeant-at-
arms; Nicolas Ricafrente, Adriano Guinto, Emeterio Malia, and Valeriano Aquino, directors.
While both councils approved their respective regulation uniforms, with a common set of rank insignias, very
few were able to comply because of unsettling events coming one after the other.
On Saturday, 28 September 1896, Captain General Apoy and General Vibora prepared to go to the field to
inspect the fortifications to the west along the Cavite-Batangas border, which were under the command of
Brig. Gen. Eleuterio Marasigan and Col. Luciano San Miguel. But before the two generals could leave, the
commander of the troops defending Dalahikan, Major Aklan, came to the war ministry to report that they had
sighted the enemy fortifying the narrowest neck of Dalahikan. The enemy activity, which had started in the
night, included the massing of Spanish troops.
PLEASE REMEMBER!
* According to Alvarez’s memoirs, what was the purpose of Aguinaldo’s second visit to the Supremo?
- The author gave us the feeling that Emilio Aguinaldo’s was really interested to know more about the
Katipunan. Emilio Aguinaldo asked me to accompany him to see the Supremo Bonifacio again to learn more
about the Katipunan. We made the trip to Manila on a Monday, 6 April 1896.
* How did the Supremo treat Aguinaldo on the latter’s visit?
- In the house we met the Supremo, Andres Bonifacio, his wife Gregoria De Jesus; Jose Dizon; and Dr.
Valenzuela himself. We were welcomed cordially with fraternal embraces. They said that they already knew
Mr. Aguinaldo, but they did not recognize him since he had been blindfolded during their first encounter.
The author gave us the picture on how Aguinaldo was treated by Andres Bonifacio and his wife Gregoria De Jesus

- We were welcomed cordially with fraternal embraces

- They said that they already knew Mr. Aguinaldo, but they did not recognize him since he had been
blindfolded during their first encounter.
* What is the significance of this narrative account?
- The author gave us a picture on how Bonifacio and Aguinaldo behave when they have a meeting. We
sense that they are not the close to one another.
- After we were all seated, we happily exchanged news and talked about the progress of the Katipunan.
Once in a while, brother Aguinaldo hesitated, which promoted the observant Bonifacio to ask solicitously if
anything was bothering him. I volunteered the information that he had some unpleasant experience with an
official at the port office and that was what probably was on his mind. I had scarcely finished what I was saying
when the Supremo’s face flushed and his voice shook as he said, “It is necessity to defend the honor of our
brother here.
* 8 PROVINCES WHO HELP ANDRES BONIFACIO TO FIGHT: MANILA, CAVITE, LAGUNA, TARLAC, PAMPANGA,
NUEVA ECIJA, BATANGAS, BULACAN
* GREEK WORD OF HISTORY: “historia”.
* AUTHOR and PERSON KNOWN AS KIDLAT NG APOY: Santiago V. Alvarez
* 2 GROUPS KATIPUNAN NA BINUO NI ALVAREZ AT AGUINALDO: Magdalo at Magdiwang
TABON CAVES by Robert B. Fox
Robert Bradford Fox (1918-1985) was an anthropologist and leading historian on the prehispanic Philippines.
Fox actively served the National Museum of the Philippines from 1948 to 1975. In the 1960s, he led a six-year
archaeological research project in Palawan, focused mainly on the caves and rockshelters of Lipuun Point in
the southern part of the island. Its most outstanding site in the Tabon Cave complex, the large main cave
where the only Pleistocene human fossils in the Philippines were found.
- the available data would suggest that Tabon Man may be dated from 22,000 to 24,000 years ago. But, only
further excavations in the cave and chemical analysis of human and animal bones from disturbed and
undisturbed levels in the cave will define the exact age of the human fossils.
- The fossil bones are those of homo sapiens. These will form a separate study by a specialist which will be
included in the final site report from Tabon Cave. It is important to point out. However, because of a recent
publication (Scott 1969), that a preliminary study of the fossil bones of Tabon Man shows that it is above
average in skull dimensions when compared to the modern Filipino.
- The history of ancient man in the Philippine Pleistocene is critically needed before movements of man into
the island are thoroughly understood.
- The flake assemblage of Tabon Cave represents, as noted, one Palaeolithic flake tradition which also
persisted into the post Pleistocene; in fact, to 4,000 years ago as shown by a C-14 date from Guri Cave.
- Movius (1058) states: Tentative conclusions, mainly based on the results of C-14 measurements, suggest that
the upper limit of the Palaeolithic in Borneo should be placed at approximately 17.625 B.C.; Harrison (1964:
183),
- in a more chronology for Niah:
(1) "tiny flakes" of the Middle Palaeolithic, 25 45,000 B.C. (plus);
(2) "mid-sohan flakes" of the middle Palaeolithic 25 - 45,000 B.C.;
(3) "chopping tools and large flakes" of the upper palaeolithic circa 30,000 B.C.;
(4) "small flakes of the upper palacolithie," 25 - 30,000 B.C.; and "advanced flakes of palaeo-mesolithic
(?)," about 10,000 B.C.
- Harrison's "chopping tools and large flakes" would appear to be equivalent with the tabonian flake tradition,
and possibly his "small flakes of the upper palaeolithic, 25,000 to 30,000 B.C., could also be linked with the
tabonian tradition.
- At tabon there is possibly a trend towards smaller flake tools in the upper level (no statistical studies have
been completed however), and apparently more frequent secondary retouching of flake tools in the late
upper Pleistocene and early post Pleistocene times. There are, nevertheless, flake tools with fine secondary
retouching in the deepest levels of Tabon Cave and tools range from large to small at all levels.
- The palaeolithic industries of Palawan may have survived to a more recent data that in Borneo, reflecting in
part and the greater marginality of Palawan and the Philippines in general.
- There have been so systematic excavations elsewhere in the Philippines of an upper palaeolithic site. Beyer
(1946: 80) basing his conclusions upon extensive archaeological surveys in Bulacan, Rizal, and Batangas
provinces, recognized some "Late-Pleistocene (about 50,000 to 20,000 years ago) artifacts." Described as
palaeolithic, which were "chiefly of flint, chert, and quartzite, but with a few thickly patinated or corroded
medium large implements of obsidian. Mostly (entirely?) surface finds and no positive implement bearing,
strata identified as yet (1947) and "Late Palaeolithic or Mesolithic" implements (1948) from Luzon which may
well be chronologically and typologically related to the tabonian tradition.
- Beer's typological distinction between “Palaeolithic" and "Mesolithic" was apparently based upon a
preconception that larger stone tools which he describes as "hand axe, "choppers," "cleavers," or simply
"palaeolithic," were Palaeolithic; while the smaller flake tools, such as those which have been excavated in
Tabon Cave, were "Mesolithic" (Movius, 1948). On the contrary, those flake tools formed a significant element
of the chopper- chopping tool tradition in even the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic of south and east Asia.
- It is also apparent from the excavation in Palawan that flake industries comprise the major lithic tradition
during the upper palaeolithic of this area. The writer is convinced too that further systematic excavation in the
Philippines and in southeast Asia in general, notably in those regions where cryptocrystalline quartazens are
available, will reveal other widespread flake tool industries of the upper palaeolithic and already flake
implements like those of the tabonian tradition have been reported from Laguna province in Luzon and From
Panay and Bohol islands, as well as later, secondary flaked implements from Zamboanga.
- Homo sapiens is unquestionably of great antiquity in Asia. The Niah skull is securely dated to about 38,000
B.C., bring much the earliest homo sapiens (modern man) found so Far East? [Harrison (1964) 179]. Tabon
man may be tentatively dated to about 22,000 to 24,000
- It is necessary to point out for those engaging in work in limestone caves in the Philippines that fossilization
is not necessarily a criterion of a great war. Mineralized human bones have been found on the surface of
Manunggul Coffin Number A, with a jar burial assemblage which is dated by radiocarbon to only 710 890 B.C.
levels are also highly pertinent. As water seeks its own level, date from studies of eustatic changes made
elsewhere in the world are valid for a general picture of the changing sea level in the Philippines during the
Late Pleistocene.
- The lowering of the sea level during the Pleistocene, as a result of great quantities of water of the world
being enveloped in the building up and advances of the ice sheets and glaciers, exposed continental shelves
and formed land bridges mainland of Asia (see Movius (1948), Map 2) into the island world of Southeast Asia
and the Philippines. Flint (1943: 437) estimates the lowering of the sea level during the Last Glacial - the
period of the Pleistocene under consideration herein - as between 70 and 102 meters"... less an uncalculated
amount attributable to isostatic adjustment.
- Fairbridge (1962: 113) with newer data points out: -The last glacial maximum was about 20,000 years ago
and (the) sea level was about 100 meters below the present. Rapid melting began about 16,000 B.P. and by
6,000 B.P. the present level was reached."
- A drop of 100 meters would have allowed Late Pleistocene man to move into Palawan by the use of crude
rafts, as well as into the rest of the central and northern Philippines., The channels which separated many
islands in Palawan during the Late Pleistocene were very narrow (e.g. only 8 to 9-kms. between Borneo and
Balabac).
- The glacial advances may have been correlated too, as noted, with climatic changes in the low latitudes, such
as in the Philippines. A dramatic rise in the sea level above the present level also ocurred at the time of the
final aggression of the last glacial. Thus, about 6,000 years ago, the sea rose to 3 or 4 meters above the
present level flooding extensive lowland areas (Fairbridge, 1962). The history of ancient man in the Philippine
Pleistocene is critically needed before movements of man into the island are thoroughly understood.
- The flake assemblage of Tabon Cave represents, as noted, one Palaeolithic flake tradition which also
persisted into the post Pleistocene; in fact, to 4,000 years ago as shown by a C-14 date from Guri Cave. Movius
(1058) states: Tentative conclusions, mainly based on the results of C-14 measurements, suggest that the
upper limit of the Palaeolithic in Borneo should be placed at approximately 17.625 B.C.; Harrison (1964: 183),
in a more chronology for Niah: (1) "tiny flakes of the Middle Palaeolithic, 25 45,000 B.C. (plus);(2) "mid-sohan
flakes" of the middle Palaeolithic 25 - 45,000 B.C.; (3) "chopping tools and large flakes" of the upper
palaeolithic circa 30,000 B.C.; (4) "small flakes of the upper palacolithie, 25 - 30,000 B.C.; and "advanced flakes
of palaeo-mesolithic (?)," about 10,000 B.C.
PLEASE REMEMBER!
* Mammanwa – Latest fossil found in Cagayan, also based on C14 and research mammanwa was the oldest
fossil.
* C14 (Carbon Dating) – term to determine the age of fossil that found
* Manunggul Jar – a jar that contains ashes of the dead
* Life after death – dead people that believes life just continued after death
* Keilor Cranium – bones that found in Australia
* Niah Skull – skull found in Malaysia
* Author – Robert Bradford Fox
The Pre – Hispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History
by William Henry Scott
THE MARAGTAS
* Pedro Alcantara Monteclaros’s Maragtas, or History of Panay from the first inhabitants and the Bornean
immigrants from which the Bisayans are descended to the arrival of the Spaniards, was published by the
Kadapig sang Banwa (Advocate of the Town) at the El Tiempo Press, Iloilo in 1907.
* The word “maragtas” is used by the author as the equivalent of the Spanish historia, and glossed in the 1957
edition with Visayan sayuron (account), though commentators have regularly sought some Sanskrit origin for
the word. (Guillermo Santiago-Cuino, for example, considered it a corruption of a Sanskrit term meaning
“great people or great country”.)
* Pedro Monteclaro served as a Liason Officer during the American occupation of the area, and was the first
President of Miag-ao (1901-1903), during which period he began the researchers which resulted in his
publication of the Maragtas.
* Provenance – Consideration of the provenance of the Maragtas must begin with the author’s own
statements as set forth in his “Foreword to the Readers,” which is here quoted in full:
I wrote this Maragtas, a history of the first inhabitants of the island of Panay, with great influence for fear I
might be considered too presumptions. I would therefore have refrained from writing it but for my burning
desire to reveal to the public the many data which I gathered from records about the first inhabitants of the
island of Panay, the arrival of the Datus from Borneo, their possession and settlement of our land, their spread
to different parts of the Island, and their customs and habits until the Spaniards came and ruled the
Philippines.
The "Maragtas Code." - The other exceptional passage of historic significance which does not occur in the
Historia de los primeros datos comprises the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7 th paragraphs of chapter 5 of the Maragias.
This chapter is a description of a variety of general cultural information such as social customs, Visayan
equivalents of the days of the week, and dialect differences. Among the customs are four rather stringent
sanctions – those too lazy to work were bonded over to the wealthy until they reformed, failing which they
were cast out of society to live with Negritos and breed halfcaste offspring: polygamy was practiced until-
population-control became necessary, whereupon it was restricted to the well-to-do and the children of those
too poor to support them were drowned; unredeemed adultery was punished by death or disinheritance; and
the fingers of thieves were cut off. Whether or not these statements can be authenticated as an actual
Spartan way of life practiced by prehispanic Filipinos, at least they are not phrased in the Maragtas as “laws."
They are customs expressed with third-person-plural, past tense verbs in such subjective terms as "The most
serious and most severely punished offence was laziness” – which, as a matter of fact, is technically untrue
since other offences were punished by mutilation and death. These failings, however, have been overcome in
a legalistic rephrasing called the "Code of, Sumakwel" by Orendain, who performed much the same service for
the Vietnamese constitution in 1956.
SUMMARY:
The Maragtas is an original work by Pedro A. Monteclaro published in mixed Hiligaynon and Kin-iraya in Iloilo
in 1907 which claims to be nothing more than that. It was based on written and oral sources then available,
and contains three sorts of subject matter - folk customs still being practiced or remembered by old folks, the
description of an idealized political confederation whose existence there are reasonable grounds to doubt and
for which there is no evidence, and a legend recorded in 1858 of a migration of Borean settlers, some of whom
are still remembered as folk heroes, pagan deities, or progenitors of part of the present population of Panay.
There is no reason to doubt that this legend preserves the memory of some actual event itself or to decide
which of its details are historic facts and which are the embellishments of generations of oral transmission.
THE CONTRIBUTORS OF JOSE E. MARCO TO PHILIPPINE HISTORY
* The first time a reputable scholar presented a Philippine document which claimed to be prehispanic in origin
was when Dr. James A. Robertson, Librarian of the Philippine Library and Museum, published an English
translation of the "Code of Calantiao" in "Social structure of, and ideas of law among, early Philippine peoples;
and a recently discovered prehispanic criminal code of the Philippine Islands" in H. Morse Stephens and
Herbert E. Bolton's The Pacific Ocean in history (New York 1917).
* The code itself was contained in one of the five manuscript accessions made by the Library in 1914, all of
which were received from Mr. Jose E. Marco of Pontevedra, Occidental Negros, and all of which Robertson
considered rare, authentic, and very valuable. Rare they certainly were for they contained such information as
the date of the invention of coconut wine, and if they were authentic, they were very valuable indeed, for they
are full of details of early Philippine culture so unparalleled in other sources as to be of interest not only to
Filipinologists but students of Southeast Asian ethnohistory generally. The authenticity of these documents
must therefore be seriously considered. Since all of them were obtained from the same person, this
consideration must begin with his earlier career as a contributor to Philippine historiography.
* Jose E. Marco’s first contribution was 1912 Resona Historica De La Isla De Negros and The Three Bark
Documents. The Povedano 1572 map, and the Povedano 1577, 1578 and 1579. Morquecho 1890 and Pavon
1838-1839 manuscripts appear to be deliberate fabrications with no historic validity.
CONCLUSION
The Jose E. Marco contributions to Philippine historiography examined in this study-viz., the Povedano 1572
map, and the Povedano 1572, 1577, 1578, and 1579, Morquecho - appear to be deliberate fabrications with
no. 1830, and Pavon 1838-1839 manuscripts historic validity. There is therefore no present evidence that
any Filipino ruler by the name of Kalanliaw ever existed or that the Kalantiaw penal code is any older than
1914.