Torrentira CourseModuleinGE216ReadingsinPhilippineHistory ResearchGate 1

Readings in Philippine History 1 | P a ge
Table of Contents
Page
Lesson 1 An Introduction to Philippine Historiography: Sources and 2
Discourses
Lesson 2 History of the Philippine Islands 13
Lesson 3 The Manunggul Jar 20
Lesson 4 The Laguna Copperplate 24
Lesson 5 Duties of the Katipunan of the Sons of the People (KKK) 30
Lesson 6 Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence 32
Lesson 7 1899 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines (Malolos 34
Convention)
Lesson 8 Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the 46
Kingdom of Spain (Treaty of Paris)
Lesson 9 Jose Rizal’s Retraction Controversy 51
Lesson 10 Convention between the United States of America and Great 58
Britain Delimiting the Boundary between the Philippine
Archipelago and the State of North Borneo {1930}
Lesson 11 Minutes of the Proceedings on the National Territory of the 1971 61
Constitutional Convention
Lesson 12 The Role of Islam in the History of the Filipino People 68
Lesson 13 History of Terrorism in the Philippines 76
Lesson 14 Agreement on Peace between the Government of the Republic of 82
the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Lesson 15 Report of the Cholera Epidemic in the Philippines 85
Lesson 16 Mintal “The Little Tokyo of the Pre-war Philippines” 90
Lesson 1: Week 1-2
Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 2|Page

An Introduction to Philippine Historiography:
Sources and Discourses
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

• Define history
• Differentiate history from historiography
• Restate the sources of history
• Analyze how historians write a history
• Recall some Filipino historians and their contributions to historiography
Introduction
History deals with the study of past events. Individuals who write about history are called
historians. They seek to understand the present by examining what went before. They undertake
arduous historical research to come up with a meaningful and organized reconstruction of the
past. But whose past are we talking about? This is a basic question that a historian needs to
answer because this sets the purpose and framework of a historical account. Hence, a salient
feature of historical writing is the facility to give meaning and impart value to a particular group
of people about their past. The practice of historical writing is called historiography. Traditional
method in doing historical research focuses on gathering of documents from different libraries
and archives to form a pool of evidence needed in making a descriptive or analytical narrative.
However, modern historical writing does not only include examination of documents but also the
use of research methods from related areas study such as archaeology and geography.
Sources of History
Basic to historical research is utilization of sources. There are diverse sources of history
including documentary sources or documents, archaeological records, and oral and video
accounts. To date, most of our historical sources are documents. These refer to handwritten,
printed, drawn, designed, and other composed materials. These include books, newspapers,
magazines, journals, maps, architectural perspectives, paintings, advertisements, and
photographs. Colonial records such as government reports and legal documents form a
significant part of our collection of documents here and abroad, particularly in Spain and the
United States. In the 20th century and up to now, memoirs or personal accounts written by
important historical personages constitute another type of documents. Philippine presidents such
as Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, and Diosdado Macapagal wrote their memoirs to
highlight their roles as nation-builders.
On the other hand, archaeological records refer to preserved remains of human beings,
their activities, and the environment where they lived. In the Philippines, the most significant
excavated human remains include the Callao Man’s toe bone (dated 67 000 BCE) and the
Tabon Man’s
skullcap (22 000 BCE). Aside from human remains, other archaeological records are generally
categorized as fossils and artifacts. Fossils are remains of animals, plants, and other organisms
from the distant past, while artifacts are remnants of material culture developed by human
beings. These include clothing, farm implements, jewelry, pottery and stone tools.
Oral and video accounts form the third kind of historical source. These are audio-visual
documentation of people, events, and places. These are usually recorded in video and audio
cassettes, and compact discs. Aside from scholars, media people also use oral and video accounts
as part of their news and public affairs work.
Doctrina Christiana, the first published work

Primary and Secondary Sources
There are two general kinds of historical sources: primary and secondary. Primary
Sources refer to documents, physical objects, and oral/video accounts made by an individual or a
group present at the time and place being described. These materials provide facts from people
who actually witnessed the event. Secondary sources, on the other hand, are materials made by
people long after the events being described had taken place.
Most historical narratives today are so reliant on documentary sources due to the plethora
of written records and the lack of archaeological records and oral/video memoirs. Although
having several documents about an event allows for easier counterchecking of facts history
researchers are confronted with one basic challenge with regard primary sources- their ability to
read and understand texts in foreign languages.

Many of our untapped archival documents here and abroad are written in Spanish. A good
knowledge of Spanish is a huge advantage. But this skill is unusual among today’s historians
who prefer to read translations of Spanish texts such as the 55-volume. The Philippine Islands,
1493-
1898 (1903-1909) edited by Emma Blair and James Robertson, which is the most cited collection
of primary sources about the Philippines before the advent of the American colonial regime. The
collection includes translations of portions of 16th- century chronicles such as Antonio Pigafetta’s
Primo Viaggio intorno al mundo (1524), Miguel Loarca’s Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (1582),
and Juan de Plasencia’s Relacion de las Islas Pilipinas (1592).
Filipino historians, such as the father-daughter tandem of Gregorio Zaide and Sonio
Zaide, have also compiled and translated colonial documents. They published the 10- volume
Documentary Sources of Philippine History (1994).
Aside from reading the Spanish originals documents or translated words, another
daunting task for Filipino historians is to discern the cultural context and historical value of
primary sources because most of these primary documents were written by colonialists and
reflected Western cultural frames. For examples, derogatory terms used to Label Filipinos such
as “pagan,” “uncivilized,” “wild,” and “savage” abound in these colonial documents. Uncovering
myths and misconceptions about Filipino cultural identity propagated by the Spanish and
American colonizers is extra challenging for contemporary Filipino scholars.
If the key function of primary source documents is to give facts, secondary source
documents, on the other hand, provide valuable interpretations of historical events. The works of
eminent historians such as Teodoro Agoncillo and Renato Constantino are good examples of
secondary sources. In his interpretation of the Philippine Revolution, Agoncillo divided the
revolution into two phases: the first phase covers the years from the start of the revolution in
August 1896 to the flight of Emilio Aguinaldo and company to Hong Kong as a result of the Pact
of Biak-na-Bato, while the second phase spans from Aguinaldo’s return to Manila from Hong
Kong until his surrender to the Americans in March 1901.
However, Constantino refuted Agoncillo’s leader-centric scheme of dividing the
revolution into two phases by stressing that Agoncillo’s viewpoint implied that the revolution
came to a halt when Aguinaldo left the country. Constantino disputed the soundness of
Agoncillo’s two-phase scheme by asserting that the war of independence continued even
without Aguinaldo’s presence in the country.
Aside from the issue on Philippine Revolution, there are other contending issues in
Philippine history such as the venue of the first Christian mass in the country and the question of
who deserves to be named national hero. By and large, interpretations serve as tools of
discernment for readers of historical sources, but they should be cautious of frames of analysis
used for biased, discriminatory, and self-serving ends.
Historical Criticism
Many documents have primary and secondary segments. For instance, examining a
newspaper as a historical source entails a discerning mind to identify its primary and secondary

components. A news item written by a witness of an event is considered as a primary source,
while a feature article is usually considered as a secondary material. Similarly, a book published
a long time ago does not necessarily render it as a primary source. It requires a meticulous
reading of the document to know its origin.
To ascertain the authenticity and reliability of primary sources to be used in crafting a
narrative, a historian needs to employ two levels of historical criticism, namely, external
criticism and internal criticism. External criticism answers concerns and questions pertinent to
the authenticity of a historical source by identifying that composed the historical material,
locating when and where the historical material was produced, and establishing the material’s
evidential value.
Internal criticism, on the other hand, deals with the credibility and reliability of the
content of a given historical source. This kind of criticism focuses on understanding the
substance and message that the historical materials wants to convey by examining how the
author frame the intent and meaning of a composed material.
Locating Primary Sources
There are substantial primary sources about the Philippines here and abroad. In the
country, government institutions such as the National Library and the National Archives are
major repositories of documentary sources.
The National Library has complete microfilm copies of the Philippine Revolutionary
Records (1896-1901), a compilation of captured documents of Emilio Aguinaldo’s revolutionary
government, and Historical Data Papers (1952-1953), a collection of “history and cultural life”
of all towns in the country spearheaded by public school teachers during President Elpidio
Quirino’s term. The Manuscript’s Section of the National Library’s Filipiniana Division
contains the presidential papers of different administrations from Manuel Quezon to Joseph
Ejercito. Search aids such as the “Checklist of Rare Filipiniana Serials (1811-1914),”
“Filipiniana Serials in Microfilm,” and several registers of Philippine presidential papers are
provided for faster and easier way to look for historical materials.
The National Archives, on the other hand, holds a substantial collection of catalogued and
uncatalogued Spanish documents about the Philippines composed from 1552 to 1900. These
consist of 432 document categories such as Administration Central de Rentas y Propiedades
(Central Administration of Rentals and Properties), Administration de Hacienda Publica
(Administration of Public Finance), Aduana de Manila (Customs Office of Manila), Almacenes
Generales (General Stores), Asuntos Criminales (Criminal matters), Ayuntamiento de Manila
(Town Council of Manila), Colera (Cholera), Padron General de Chinos (General register of
Chinese), and Presos (Prisoners). For local historians, valuable materials from the National
Archives include Cabezas de Barangay (Heads of Barangay), Ereccion de los Pueblos
(Establishment of Towns), Guia Oficial (Official Guide), and Memorias (Official Reports of
Provincial Governors), Aside from Spanish sources, the National Archives is also the repository
of 20th-century documents such as civil records, notarial documents, and Japanese wartime crime

records. There are also some sources written in Tagalog such as the documents pertinent to
Apolinario de la Cruz, the leader of the Coonfradia de San Jose in the 19th century.
Academic institutions such as the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Ateneo de
Manila University in Quezon City, University of Santos Tomas in Manila, Silliman University in
Dumaguete City, and University of San Carlos in Cebu City have also substantial library and
archival holdings. The Media Services Section of the UP Main Library has microfilm copies of
Philippine Radical Papers, a compilation of documents relevant to the Partido Komunista ng
Pilipinas (PKP) and its allied organizations as well a People’s Court Proceedings, a collection of
court proceedings against Filipino leaders who corporate with the Japanese during their short-
lived occupation. The Ateneo de Manila’s Rizal Library houses the American Historical
Collection that consists of vital documents relevant to the American experience such as the
Reports of the Philippine Commission (1901-1909), Annual Reports of the Governors-General of
the Philippine Islands (1916-1935), and records of the Philippine legislature from 1907 to 1934.
Privately owned museums and archives, such as the Ayala Museum in Makati and Lopez
Museum in Pasig City, have also considerable historical resources. Religious congregations such
as the Augustinians, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Recollects also have extensive archival holdings
that remain untapped.
Outside the Philippines, there are several documents about the country found in Spain and
the United States. The bulk of Spanish documents are found at the Archivo General de Indias in
Sevilla, Spain. Important American sources are available at the Manuscript Division of the
United States Library of Congress, Harvard University’s Houghton Library, United States
National Archives, and the University of Michigan’s Bentley Historical Library.
In this age of Internet, there are open access online archives on Filipino history and
culture, such as the extensive digital Filipiniana collection of the University of Michigan, which
consists of manuscripts and photographs of the early part of 20th century Philippines. Another
rich online source of primary documents is the University of Illinois at Chicago Field Museum. It
houses the extensive photographic collection of Dean Worcester, the secretary of Interior of the
American colonial government in the country from 1901 to 1913.
Colonial Historiography
Philippine historiography has changed significantly since the 20th century. For a long
time, Spanish colonizers presented our history in two parts: a period of darkness or backwardness
before they arrived and a consequent period of advancement or enlightenment when they
came. Spanish chroniclers wrote a lot about the Philippines but their historical accounts
emphasized the primacy of colonization to liberate Filipinos from their backward “barbaric” life
ways In the same manner, American colonial writers also shared the same worldview of their
predecessors by rationalizing their colonization of Filipinos as a way to teach the natives of the
“civilized lifestyle” which they said the Spaniards forgot to impart including personal hygiene
and public administration. Colonial narratives have portrayed Filipinos as a people bereft of an
advanced culture and a respectable history. This perception challenged Filipino intellectuals
beginning in the
1800s to rectify such cultural bias or prejudice. In 1890, Jose Rizal came out with an annotation
of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands), a book
originally published in 1609. He used de Morga’s book, a rare Spanish publication that positively
viewed precolonial Filipino culture, as a retort to the arrogant Spaniards. However, cultural bias
against Filipino culture continued even after Rizal’s death and the end of Spanish colonialism.
Jose Rizal Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
Learning from the fate of its colonial predecessor, the United States did not only use brute
force but also affected ingenious ways of pacification such as the use of education as a tool to
control their subjects and increase political and economic power of the elite few. These colonial
instruments were so ingrained among Filipinos that they perceived their colonial past in two
ways: initially maltreated by “wicked Spain” but later rescued by “benevolent America.” This
kind of historical consciousness has effectively erased from the memories of Filipino
generations the bloody Philippine-American War as exemplified by the Balangiga Massacre in
Eastern Samar and the Battle of Bud Bagsak in Sulu. Consequently, such perception breathes
new life to the two-part view of history: a period of darkness before the advent of the United
States and an era of enlightenment during the American colonial administration. This view has
resonated with Filipino scholars even after the Americans granted our independence in 1946.
Philippine Historiography after World War II
The stark reality of Filipino historians thinking like their colonial counterpart’s during the
postcolonial period troubled a small group of professors and cultural workers who were mostly
alumni of the University of the Philippines. This spurred the emergence of Filipino scholars who
challenged the narrow view of colonial narratives and developed historical writing from the
viewpoint of a nationalist agenda.
In the 1950s, Teodoro Agoncillo pioneered nationalist historiography in the country by
highlighting the role of the Filipino reformists and revolutionaries from 1872, the year that saw
the execution of the Gomburza priests, to the end of the Philippine Revolution as the focal point
of the country’s nation-building narrative. Two of his most celebrated books focus on the impact

of the Philippine Revolution: The Revolt of the Masses:
The story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan (1956) and
Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic (1960). His writings
veered away from emphasizing Spanish colonial period
and regarded events before 1872 as part of the country’s
“lost history.” This discourse of “lost history” was not
accepted by another known scholar, Renato Constantino,
whose published work entitled “The Miseducation of the
Filipino” became a staple reading fori academ
and activists beginning in cs
late1960s. Constantino advanced th
Teodoro Agoncillo t idea of a “people’s history” – e
study of the past that sought to he
analyze society by searching out people’s voices from colonial a
historical materials that typically rendered Filipinos as decadent, inept
and vile. Following this mode of historical inquiry, he authored The
Philippines: A Past Revisited (1975), a college textbook that offered a
more critical reading of Philippine history compared to Agoncillo’s
Renato Constantino
History of the Filipino People (1973). Undoubtedly, these two
nationalist scholars inspired or challenged other historians to reevaluate the country’s national
history.
Three other Filipino historians set new directions in redefining Philippine historiography
in the last 30 years of the 20th century. The first of these scholars is Zeus Salazar who
conceptualized “Pantayong Pananaw” as an approach to understanding the past from our own
cultural frame and language. He emphasized the value of our Austronesian roots to defining
Filipino culture and encouraged other scholars to conduct outstanding historical researches in
Filipino such as the work of Jaime Veneracion’s Kasaysayan ng
Bulacan (1986).
Equally important is the

contribution of Reynaldo Ileto
who wrote about his “history
from below” treatise in his
ground-breaking work, Pasyon
and Revolution: Popular
Zeus Salazar Movements in the Philippines,
1840-1910 (1979). In this work,
Ileto endeavored to recognize the way of thinking of ordinary
folks by using alternative historical sources such as folk songs
and prayers. His other works spurred new interpretations of Reynaldo Ileto
common topics such as Jose Rizal, Philippine-American War,
and American colonization.

There is Samuel Tan, another prolific historian who is remembered for mainstreaming the
role and relevance of Filipino Muslims in the country’s national history. His definitive work, The
Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle, 1900-1972 (1978), sougth to examine the struggle of Filipino
Muslims in the context of 20th –century nation-building dynamics during the American colonial
regime and subsequent postcolonial Filipino administrations. In
his book, A History of the Philippines (1987), Tan tempted to
write a national history reflective of the historical experiences
not only of lowland Christianized Filipinos but also of the other
different cultural communities in the archipelago.
Since the latter part of the 20th century, there have been
considerable changes in the way historians compose our
national history. However, contemporary Philippine
historiography still continues to be characterized by the
dominance of political narratives, colonial histories, elite-
centric perspective, and patriarchal orientation as well as
emphasis on lowland
Christianized Filipinos. Samuel Tan
Political Narratives
Most of our national histories today favor narratives that deal with the political aspects of
nation-building such as the legacies of political leaders and establishment of different
government. Questions such as the following are focal points in these narratives. Who was the
first Spanish governor-general vital in implementing the encomienda policy? Who was the
governor-general responsible for the massive employment of Filipinos in the American colonial
bureaucracy? Who served as the last president of the Philippine Commonwealth and the
inaugural chief executive of the Third Republic? Who was the Philippine president responsible
for the declaration of martial law? The challenge for present-day historians is to present a more
holistic history that goes beyond politics by means of integrating other aspects of nation-building
such as its economic and cultural aspects.
Colonial Histories in Historical Narratives
Another weakness of most national histories is the importance given to colonial histories.
This continues to breed Filipinos who are more familiar with stories about our colonial history
rather than stories of our precolonial past. Up to now, some social studies textbooks misrepresent
ancient Filipinos as savages or barbarians by portraying colonizers, especially the Spaniards and
American, as liberators of the Filipinos from cultural backwardness. The key to uncover such
cultural prejudices is to examine available historical sources and to write about our past by
understanding the myths and misconceptions that characterized the Filipino culture for centuries.
Elite-centric Perspective in Historical Narratives
Some historical narratives focus on the contributions of the elite in nation-building such
as what the Illustrados (educated Filipinos) fought for in the 19th century or how the local
politicians negotiated with their American counterparts to obtain an independence law during the
first half of
Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 10 | P a g e
the 20th century. Though eminent historians such as Constantino and Ileto reiterated the
importance of a “people’s history” and “history from below,” respectively, so much has to be
done in terms of writing about the roles played by ordinary people in our history.
Patriarchal Orientation in Historical Narratives
Most of the country’s historical narratives highlight the heroism of men in different ways:
leading revolts and liberation wars against colonizers, championing the cause of independence,
and spearheading political and economic development. Women, on the other hand, are viewed by
several historians as merely support to men. Let us take for example the women leaders such as
Gabriela Silang, Tandang Sora, and Corazon Aquino. Silang assumed the leadership of the Ilocos
revolt after her husband was murdered in May 1763. Tandang Sora’s decision to offer her barn
and farm to revolutionaries in August 1896 was linked to her son’s involvement in the
Katipunan. Aquino rose to prominence as a martyr’s widow who led a movement to depose a
dictatorship in February 1986. These representations show women’s roles as consequences of
their connection to the men in their lives. With this bias in mind, it is imperative for
contemporary historians to use gender-sensitive approaches in understanding history to avoid
typecasting women as dependent, emotional, less important, passive, submissive, and weak.
Emphasis on Lowland Christianized Filipinos
National histories tend to show partially toward lowland Christianized Filipinos at the
expense of other cultural communities such as Muslim Filipinos and other indigenous peoples
such as the Manobos of Mindanao, Ibalois of Cordillera, and Mangyans of Mindoro. Celebrated
figures of our past are all lowlander Christians and predominantly Tagalogs including Jose Rizal,
the leading propagandist; Andres Bonifacio, the Katipunan founder; Emilio Aguinaldo, the
revolutionary leader who declared independence; and Manuel Quezon, the first president of the
Philippine Commonwealth. Non-Christians and highlanders remain unrecognized in historical
narratives. Muslim Filipinos, in particular, have been subjected to negative characterization by
lowland Christians in published works such as history books. This is caused by the culture of
mistrust that developed between Christians and Muslims during the colonial periods. Muslim
Filipinos are depicted as brutal, cruel, ferocious, and vicious as exemplified by their attacks of
Christian towns. This narrow-minded view has to be reevaluated in order to correct
misrepresentations of Muslim Filipinos in this age of political correctness and cultural
sensitivity.
Because of the need to reassess our national histories, many local stories- narratives about
origins and development of a barangay, town, city, province, or an ethnolinguistic community –
have been written in the last three decades. The writing of these stories broadens the scope of our
national history reflective of the roles played by the country’s cultural communities in nation –
building.
Source: Gonzalez, M C, Madrigal, C., San Juan, DM, Ramos, DJ (2014). Chronicles in a
changing world: Witnesses to the history of the Filipino people. Santillan, NM (Chapter): Diwa
Learning Systems Inc: Innovation in Education, Makati.

Learning Activity: Essay
Requirements:
1. What is history? How is it different from historiography?
2. What are the sources of history? Enumerate them.
3. How do historians write history?
4. Who are some of the notable Filipino historians? What are their contributions to
Philippine historiography?

Lesson 2: Week 3
History of the Philippine Islands

An Excerpt from the Original Work of Antonio De Morga (Chapter 8)
……relation of the Filipinas Islands and of their natives, antiquity, customs, and government,
both during the period of their paganism and after their conquest by the Spaniards, and other
details.

• Quote the observations of the writer about the inhabitants of the Philippine islands when
the Spaniards arrived
• Describe the culture of the inhabitants of the Philippine islands before the colonization
• Criticize the way the Filipinos were described by the writer.
“In various parts of this island of Luzon are found a number of natives black in color.
Both men and women have wooly hair, and their stature is not very great, though they are strong
and robust. These people are barbarians, and have but little capacity. They possess no fixed
house or settlements, but wander in bands and hordes through the mountains and rough country,
changing from one site to another according to the season. They support themselves in certain
clearings, and by planting rice, which they are very skillful and certain. [217] They live also on
honey from the mountains, and roots produced by the ground. They are barbarous people, in
whom one cannot place confidence. They are much given killing and to attacking the settlements
of the other natives, in which they commit many depredations; and there is nothing that can be
done to stop them, or to subdue or pacify them, although this is always attempted by fair or foul
means, as opportunity and necessity demand.’’
The apparel and clothing of these natives of Luzon before the entrance of the Spaniards
into the country were generally, for the men, certain short collarless garments of cangan, sewed
together in the front, and with short sleeves, and reaching slightly below the waist, some were
blue and others black, while the chiefs had some red ones, called chinanas. [218] They also
whore a strip of colored cloth wrapped about the waist, and passed between the legs, so that it
covered the privy parts, reaching half-way down the thigh; these are called banaques. [219] they
go with legs bare, feet unshod, and the head uncovered, wrapping a narrow cloth, called protong
[220] just below it, with which they bind the forehead and temples. About their necks they wear
gold necklaces, wrought like spun wax, [221] and with links in our fashion, some larger than
others. On theie arms they wear armlets of wrought gold, which they call calombigas, and which
are very large and made in different patterns. Some wear strings of precious stones- cornelians
and agates; and other blue and white stones, which they esteem highly. [222] They wear around
the legs some

strings of these stones, and certain cords, covered with black pitch in many foldings, as garters.
[223]”
These principles, and lordship were inherited in the male line and by succession of father
and son and their descendants. If these were lacking, then their brothers and collateral relatives
succeeded. Their duty was to rule and govern their subjects and followers, and to assist them in
their interests and necessities. What the chiefs received from their followers was to be held by
them in great veneration and respect; and they were served in their wars and voyages, and in
their tilling, sowing, fishing, and the building of their houses. To these duties the natives
attended very promptly, whenever summoned by their chief. They also paid the chiefs tribute
(which they called buiz), in varying quantities, in the crops that they gathered. The descendants
of such chiefs, and their relatives, even though they did not inherit the lordship, were held in the
same respect and consideration. Such were all regarded as nobles, and as persons exempt from
the services rendered by others, or the plebeians, who were called timaguas. [224] The same
right of nobility and
Chieftainship was preserved from the women, just as for the men. When any of these
chiefs was more courageous than others in war and upon other occasions, such a one enjoyed
more followers and men; and the others were under his leadership, even if they were chiefs.
These latter retained to themselves the lordship and particular government of their own
following, which is called barangani among them. They had datos and special leaders
[mandadores] who attended to the interests of the barangay.
The superiority of these chiefs over those of their barangani was so great that they held
the latter as subjects; they treated these well or ill, and disposed of their persons, their children,
and their possessions; at will, without any resistance, or rendering account to anyone. For every
slight annoyance and for slight occasions, they were wont to kill and wound them, and to enslave
them. It bating in the river, or who have raised their eyes to look at them less respectfully and for
other similar causes. [312]
When some natives had suits or disputes with others over matters of property and interest,
or over personal injuries and wrongs received, they appointed old men of the same district, to try
them, the parties being present. If they had to present proofs, they brought their witnesses there,
and the case was immediately judged according to what was found, according to the usages of
their ancestors on like occasions; and that sentence was observed and executed without any
further objection or delay, [313]
The natives’ laws throughout the islands were made in the same manner, and they
followed the traditions and customs of their ancestors, without anything being written. Some
provinces had different customs than others in some respects. However, they agreed in most, and
in all the islands generally the same usages were followed. [314]
There are three conditions of persons among the natives of these islands, and into which
their government is divided: the chiefs, of whom we have already treated; the timaguas, who are
equivalent to plebians; and slaves, those of both chiefs and timaguas.

The slaves were of several classes. Some were for all kinds of work and slavery, like
those which we ourselves hold. Such are called sagigilid; [315] they served inside the house, as
did likewise the children born of them. There are others who live by their own houses with their
families, outside the house of their lord; and come, at the season, to aid him in his sowings and
harvests, among his rowers when he embarks, in the construction of his house when it is being
built, and to serve in his house when there are guests of distinction. These are bound to come to
their lord’s house whenever he summons them, and to serve in these offices without any pay or
stipend. These slaves are called namamahay, [316] and their children and descendants are slaves
of the same class. From these slaves- sagigilid and namamahayan- are issue, some of whom are
whole slaves, some of whom are half slaves, and still others one-fourth slaves. It happens thus;
if either the father or the mother was free, and they had only child, he was half free and half
slave. If they had more than one child, they were divided as follows: the first follows the
condition of the father, free or slave; the second that of the mother. If there were an odd number
of children, the last was half free and half slave. Those who descended from these, if children of
a free mother or father, were only one-fourth slaves, because of being children of a free father or
mother and of a half-slave. These half slaves or one-fourth slaves, whether sagigilid or
namamahay, served their masters during every other moon; and in this respect so is such
condition slavery.
In the same way, it may happen in division between heirs that a slave will fall to several,
and serves each one for the time that is due him. When the slave is not wholly slave, but half or
fourth, he has the right, because of that part that is free, to control his master to emancipate him
for a just price. This price is appraised and regulated for persons according to the quality of their
slavery, whether it be saguiguilid or namamahay, half slave or quarter slave. But if he is wholly
slave, the master cannot be compelled to ransom or emancipate him for any price.
The usual price of a saguiguilid slave among the natives is, at most, generally ten taes of
good gold, or eighty pesos, if he is namamahay. Half of that sum. The others are in the same
proportion, taking into consideration the person and his age.
No fixed beginning can be assigned as the origin of these kinds of slavery among these
natives, because all the slaves are natives of the islands, and not strangers. It is thought that they
were made in their wars and quarrels. The most certain knowledge is that the most powerful
made the others slaves, and seized them for slight cause or occasion, and many times for loans
and usurious contracts which were current among them. The interest, capital, and debt, increased
so much with delay that the barrowers became slaves. Consequently, all these slaveries have
violent and unjust beginnings; and most if the suits among the natives are over these, and they
occupy the judges in the exterior court with them, and their confessors in that of conscience.
[317]
These slaves comprise the greatest wealth and capital of the natives of these islands, for
they are very useful to them and necessary for the cultivation of their property. They are sold,
traded, and exchanged among them, just as any bother mercantile article, from one village to
another, from one province to another, and likewise from one island to another. Therefore, and to
avoid so many suits as would occur if these slaveries were examined, and their origin and scurce
ascertained, they are preserved and held as they were formerly.

This marriage of these natives, commonly and generally were, and are: Chiefs with
women chiefs; timaguas with those of that rank; and slaves with those of their own class. But
sometimes these classes intermarry with one another. They considered one woman, whom they
married, as the legitimate wife and the mistress of the house; and she was styled ynasaba. [318]
Those whom they kept besides hey they considered as family. The children of the first were
regarded as legitimate and whole heirs of their parents; the children of the others were not so
regarded, and left something by assignment, but they did not inherit.
The dowry was furnished by the man, being given by his parents. The wife furnished
nothing for the marriage, until she had inherited it from her parents. The solemnity of the
marriage consisted in nothing more than the agreement between the parents and relatives of the
contracting parties, the payment of the dowry agreed upon to the father of the bride, [319] and
the assembling at the wife’s parents’ house of all the relatives to eat and drink until they would
fall down. At night the man took the woman to his house and into his power, and there she
remained. These marriages were annulled and dissolved for slight cause, which acted as
mediators in the affairs. At such a time the man took the dowry (which they call vigadicaya),
[320] unless it happened that they separated through the husband’s fault;
For when it was not returned to him, and the wife’s parents kept it. The property that they
had acquired together was divided in to halves, and each one disposed of his own. If one made
any profits in which the other did not have a share or participate, he acquired it for himself alone.
The Indians were adopted one by another, in presence of the relatives. The adopted
person gave and delivered all his actual possession to the one who adopted him. Thereupon he
remained in his house and care, and had a right to inherit with the other children. [321]
Adulteries were not punished corporally. If the adulterer paid the aggrieved party the
amount adjudged by the old men and agreed upon by them, then the injury was pardoned, and the
husband was appeased and retained his honor. He would still live with his wife and there would
be no further talk about the matter.
In inheritance all the legitimate children inherited equally from their parents whatever
property they had acquired. If there were any movable or landed property which they had
received from their parents, such went to the nearest relative and the collateral side of that stock,
if there were no legitimate children by an ynasaba. This was the case either with or without a
will. In the act of drawing a will, there was no further ceremony than to have written it or to have
stated it orally before acquaintances.
If any chief was lord of a barangay, then in that case, the eldest son of an ynasaba
succeeded him. If he died, the second son succeeded. If there were no sons, then the daughters
succeeded in the same order. If there were no legitimate successors, the succession went to the
nearest relative belonging to lineage and relationship of the chief who had been the last possessor
of it.
If any native had slave women concubines of any of them, and such slave woman had
children, those children were free, as was the slave. But if she had no children, she remained a
slave. [322]

These children by a slave woman, and those borne by a married woman, were regarded as
illegitimate, and did not succeed to the inheritance with the other children, neither were the
parents obliged to leave them anything. Even if they were the sons of chiefs, they did not
succeed to the nobility or chieftainship of the parents, nor to their privileges, but they remained
and were reckoned as plebeians and in the number and rank of the other timaguas.
The contract and negotiations of these natives were generally illegal, each one paying
attention to how he might better his own business and interest.
Loans which interest were very common and much practiced, and the interest incurred
was excessive. The debt doubled and increased all the time while payment was delayed, until it
stripped the debtor of all his possessions, and he and his children, when all their property was
gone, became slaves. [323]
Their customary method of trading was by bartering one thing for another, such as food,
cloth, cattle, fowls, lands, houses, fields, slaves, fishing-grounds, and palm-trees (both nipa and
wild). At Sometimes a price intervened, which was paid in gold, as agreed upon, or in metal bells
brought from China. These bells they regard as precious jewels, resemble large pans and are very
sonorous. [324] They play upon these at their feasts, and carry them to the war in their boat
instead of drums and others instruments. There are often delays and terms for certain payments,
and bondsmen who intervene and bind themselves, but always with very usurious and excessive
profits and interests.
Crimes were punished by request of the aggrieved parties. Especially were thefts
punished with greater severity, the robbers being enslaved or sometimes put to death. [325] The
same was true of insulting words, especially when spoken to chiefs. They had among themselves
many expressions and words which they regarded as the highest insult, when said to men and
women. These were pardoned less willingly and with greater difficulty that was personal
violence, such as wounding and assaulting. [326]
Concubinage, rape, and incest, were not regarded at all, unless committed by a timagua
on the person of a woman chief. It was a quite ordinary practice for a married man to have lived
a long time in concubinage with the sister of his wife. Even before having communication which
his wife he could have had access for a long time to his mother-in-law, especially if the bride
were very young until she were of sufficient age. This was done in sight of all the relatives.
Single men are called bagontaos, [327] and girls of marriageable age, dalagas. Both
classes are people of little restraint, and from early childhood they have communication with one
another, and mingle with facility and little secrecy, and without this being regarded among the
natives as a cause for anger. Neither do the parents, brothers, or relatives, show any anger,
especially if there is any material interest in it, and but little is sufficient with each and all.
As long as these natives lived in their paganism, it was not known that they had fallen
into the abominate sin against nature. But after the Spaniards had entered their country, through
communication with them—and still more, through that with the Sangleys, who have come from

China, and are much given to that vice—it has been communicated to them somewhat, both to
men and to women. In this matter it has been necessary to take action.
The native of the islands of Pintados, especially the women, are very vicious and sensual.
Their perverseness has discovered lascivious methods of communication between men and
women; and there is one to which they are accustomed from their youth. The men skillfully make
a hole in their virile member near its head, and insert therein a serpent’s head, either of metal or
ivory, and fasten it with a peg of the same material passed through the hole, so that it cannot
become unfastened. With this device, they have communication with their wives, and are unable
to withdraw until a long time after copulation. They are very fond of this and receive much
pleasure from it, so that, although devices are called sagras, and there are very few of them,
because since they have become Christians, strenuous efforts are being made to do away with
these, and not consent to their use; and consequently the practice has been checked in great part.
[328]
Herbalist and witches are common among these natives, but are not punished or
prohibited among them, so long as they do not cause any special harm, But seldom could that be
ascertained or known.
There were also when whose business was to ravish and take away virginity from young
girls. These girls were taken to such men, and the latter were paid for ravishing them, for the
natives considered it a hindrance and acquaintance if the girls were virgins when they married.
In matters of religion, the natives proceeded more barbarously and with greater blindness
than in all the rest. For besides being pagans, without any knowledge of the true God, they
neither strove to discover Him by way of reason, nor had any fixed belief. The devil usually
deceived them with a thousand errors and blindness. He appeared to them in various horrible and
frightful forms, and as fierce animals, so that they feared Him and trembled before Him. They
generally worshiped him, and made images of him in the said forms. These they kept in caves
and private houses, where they offered them perfumes them perfumes and odors, and food and
fruit, calling them anitos. [329]
Others worshiped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and drunken revels at the
conjunction of those bodies. Some worshipped a yellow-colored bird that dwells in their woods,
called batala. They generally worship and adore the crocodiles when they see them, by kneeling
down and clasping their hanads, because of the harm that they receive from those reptiles; they
believe that by so doing the crocodile will become appeased and leave them. Their oaths,
execrations, and promises are all as above mentioned, namely, “May buhayan eat thee, if thou
dost not speak truth, or fulfil what thou hast promised,’’ and similar things.
There were no temples throughout those islands, nor houses generally used for the
worship of idols; but each person possessed and made his house own anitos, [330] without any
fixed rite or ceremony. They had no priests or religious to attend to religious affairs, except
certain old men and women called catalonas. These were experienced witches and sorcerers,
who kept the other people deceived. The latter communicated to these sorcerers their desires and
needs, and the catalonas told them innumerable extravagancies and lies. The catalonas uttered
prayers and performed other ceremonies to the idols for the sick; and they believed in omens and
superstitions,
with witch the devil inspired them, whereby they declared whether the patient would recover or
die. Such were their cures and methods, and they used various kinds of divinations for all things.
All this was with so little aid, apparatus, or foundation—which God permitted, so that the
preaching of the holy gospel should find those of that region better prepared for it, and so that
those natives would confess the truth more easily, and it, and would be less difficult to withdraw
them from their darkness, and the errors in which the devil kept them for so many years. They
never sacrificed human beings as is done in other kingdoms. They believed that there was a
future life where those who had been brave and performed valiant feats would be rewarded;
while those who had done evil would be punished. But they did not know how or where this
would be. [331]
Source:
De Morga, Antonio. History of the Philippine islands: From their discovery by Magellan in 1521
to the beginning of the XVII Century; with description of Japan, China and adjacent countries.
Translated by Blair and Robertson. Ohio: The Arthur and Clark Company. 1907.
Learning Activity: Reaction Paper
Requirements:
1. Based on your critical analysis of the above description of Antonio de Morga about the
early inhabitants of the then called Philippine islands, draw some points which you do
not agree about the Filipino people before the Spanish colonization. Provide evidence
of your argument.
2. Do you think some of the observed characteristics of culture and practices of the early
Filipinos still exist now a days? Give examples, if there is. Justify if there is none.

Lesson 3: Week 4
The Manunggul Jar

Learning Objectives

• Identify the parts of the Manunggul jar
• Interpret the significance and symbolisms of the design of the jar
• Relate the design of the jar with the cultural practices of the early civilization
• Illustrate the significance of the discovery of the jar to the history of the Philippines
The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in
Manunggul cave of Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point at Palawan dating from 890–710 B.C. The two
prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the afterlife.
The Manunggul Jar is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest Philippine pre-colonial
artworks ever produced and is a considered a masterpiece. It is denoted a national treasure and it
is designated as item 64-MO-74 by the National Museum of the Philippines. It is now housed at
the Museum of the Filipino People and is one of the most popular exhibits there. It is made from
clay with some sand soil.
The cultural treasure found in the early 1960’s in
Manunggul Cave, Lipuun Point, Palawan is a secondary burial
jar. The upper portion of the jar, as well as the cover is incised
with curvilinear scroll designs and painted with natural iron or
hematite. On top of the jar cover or lid is a boat with two
human figures representing two souls on a voyage to the
afterlife. The boatman is seated behind a figure whose hands
are crossed on the chest. The position of the hands is a
traditional Filipino practice observed when
arranging the corpse.
The burial jar which is unrivaled in Southeast Asia and

considered as the work of a master potter, signifies the belief
of early Filipinos in life after death. It is dated to the late
Neolithic Period, about 890-710 B.C.
Discovery of the Jar

The Manunggul Jar was found by Dr. Robert B.
Fox and Miguel Antonio in 1962. It was found alongside the discovery of the remains of Tabon
Man. It was recovered by Dr. Fox in Chamber A of Manunggul Cave in Southwestern
Palawan. Manunggul Cave is one of the Tabon Caves in Lipuun Point. In the expansion, the
Tabon
Caves is known to be a site of jar burials with artefacts dating a range from 4250-2000
BP. Chamber A dates as a Late Neolithic burial site (890-710 BC). Seventy-eight jars and
earthenwares, including the Manunggul Jar, was discovered on the subsurface and surface of
Chamber A. Each artifact varied in design and form but was evidently types of funerary pottery.
First Excavation and Response to Discovery

As mentioned earlier, the first ever excavation that gave way to the discovery of this
burial jar is on the year 1964 by Dr. Robert Fox. During that time, he and his team were
excavating the Tabon Cave Complex, specifically in the Lipuun Point. In Fox’s excavation, it is
yet the most unusual in all angles. The inside of the jar contains human bones which are covered
in red paint. Like the Egyptian burial practice, the jar was also found to be equipped with
numerous bracelets.
“... is perhaps unrivaled in Southeast Asia, the work of an artist and a master potter.” — These
words were said by Robert Fox when asked as to how he would describe the jar’s origin, based
from its appearance.
Design of the Jar

The fine lines and complex design of the Manunggul Jar reflect the artistry of the early
Filipinos.
The Manunggul Jar shows that the Filipinos' maritime culture is paramount that it
reflected its ancestors' religious beliefs. Many epics around the Philippines would tell how souls
go to the next life, aboard boats, pass through the rivers and seas. This belief is
connected with the Austronesian belief of the anito. The fine lines and intricate designs of
the Manunggul Jar reflect the artistry of early Filipinos. These designs are proof of the Filipinos'
common heritage from the Austronesian-speaking ancestors despite the diversity of the cultures
of the Filipinos.
The upper part of the Manunggul jar, as well as the cover, is carved with curvilinear scroll
designs which are painted with hematite. The depiction of sea-waves on the lid places this
Manunggul jar in the Sa Huỳnh culture pottery tradition. These are people that migrated in
an East to West migration from the Borneo-Palawan area to Southern Vietnam. Early Filipinos
believed that a man is composed of a body, a life force called ginhawa, and a kaluluwa.
This explains why the design of the cover of the Manunggul Jar features three faces - the soul,
the boatman, and the boat itself. The faces of the figures and on the prow of the boat have eyes
and mouth rendered in the same style as other artifacts of Southeast Asia of that period. The two
human figures in a boat represent a voyage to the afterlife. The boatman is holding a steering
paddle while the one on his front shows hands crossed on his chest. The steersman's oar is
missing its paddle, as is the mast in the center of the boat, against which the steersman would
have braced his feet. The manner in which the hands of the front figure are folded across the
chest is a widespread

practice in the Philippines when arranging the corpse. The cover of Manunggul Jar provides a
clear example of a cultural link between the archeological past and the ethnographic present. It
also signifies the belief of ancient Filipinos in life after death.
The Manunggul Jar tells us of our connections with our Southeast Asian neighbors. The
design is a proof of our common heritage from our Austronesian-speaking ancestors despite the
diversity of the cultures of the Philippine peoples.5 Traces of their culture and beliefs can still be
seen in different parts of the country and from different Philippine ethno-linguistic groups,
reminding us that there can be a basis for the so-called “imagined community” called the Filipino
nation.
The Manunggul Jar tells us of how important the waters were to our ancestors. Before the
internet, the telephone, the telegram, and the plane, the seas and the rivers were their conduit of
trade, information and communication.6 In the Philippine archipelago, that, according to Peter
Bellwood, the Southeast Asians first developed a sophisticated maritime culture which made
possible the spread of the Austronesian-speaking peoples to the Pacific Islands as far Madagascar
in Africa and Easter Island near South America.Our ships—the balanghay, the paraw, the
caracoa, and the like—were considered marvelous technological advances by our neighbors that
they respected us and made us partners in trade, these neighbors including the imperial Chinese.
The Manunggul Jar shows that our maritime culture is so paramount to us that it reflected
our ancestor’s religious beliefs. Many epics around the Philippines would tell us of how souls go
to the next life aboard boats, passing through the rivers and seas. The belief is very much
connected with the Austronesia belief in the anito. Our ancestors believed that man is composed
of the body, the life force called the ginhawa, and the kaluluwa. The kaluluwa, after death, can
return to earth to exist in nature to guide their descendants. This explains why the design of
the cover of the Manunggul Jar features three faces, those of the soul, of the boat driver, and of
the boat itself. For them, even things from nature have souls, have lives of their own. That’s
why our ancestors respected nature more than those who thought that it can be used for the ends
of man.
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Manunggul.htm
Learning Activity: Map Analysis
Requirements:
1. Given the map below, extracted from Google Earth, the Tabon Caves in the Lipuun Point of
Palawan where the Manunggul Jar was discovered are facing the South China Sea and the
Spratly Islands. Below the Palawan peninsula is the island of Borneo. Do you find any
relationship between the symbolism of the design of the jar and the surrounding
environment? What do you think is the source of inspiration in such design given its
environment?
2. Using your own analysis of the map, formulate your own theory of the possible role of the
Palawan peninsula in the history of civilization in the early Philippines.
Map generated from Google Earth
Palawan Peninsula
Manunggul, Tabon Caves
Lipuun Point,

Lesson 4: Week 5
The Laguna Copperplate

Learning Objectives
• Restate the English translation of the inscription in the copperplate
• Explain the relevance of the discovery of the copperplate to Philippine historiography
• Justify the existence of advanced Philippine civilization prior to the arrival of the
Spaniards

811'2020
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Tiie ma,amum extent of the Snvef•Y• Empire during the 8/h centu,y. ( CC BY SA 3.0)
However, there is little in-fonnation on the area in the part of this region where the modem CXUltry of the Philippines is
now situated. This lack or information Jed many scholars to believe that it was isolated from the rest of the region.
Thus. the Laguna Copperplate In~ is an inp0<1ant artdact, as it has allowed scholars to re-evaluate the situation
in !his part of Sootheas1 As.a ruling the 10th century AD.
Characteristicsof the Lacuna Copperplate

The Laguna Copperplateis a thin piece of copper sheet measuring aboot 20 x 20 an (7.9 x 7.9 inches~ which was
discovered around 1987. H has been reported that this artifact was found during dredging activities with a mechanical
conveyor in the Lunbang River. which is situated in the Province of Laguna. This province i.s located to the east of
Manila, !he capilal of lhe Pl1iippines.
II is ln1eresting to note lhal the ~a Copperplale only came to the attention of schola<s fn 1990, when ii was
offered for sale to lhe National Museun n Manila, after anempts to sen It In lhe anllq- ma11<e1 had been me1with
lillle Interest.
8/1'2020 The Laguna CopperplatelnsalpliOn:All Ancient Tell1 That Ch&J"9edthe PercepliOnol lhe HIStory OI the PN!lppines I AneientOrigins
Chief Lapu-Lapu • Warrior and Hero of the Philippines

The Unique Hanging Coffins of Sagada, Philippines
Fire Mummies • The Smoked Human Remains of the Kabayan Caves
An Incomplete Artifact
Investigations by Antoon Postma, a Dutch anthropologist, have revealed that the inscription on the Laguna
Copperplate is incomplete, and it is highly likely that there was another similar piece of copperplate with inscriptions on
it that has been lost In an article published in 1992, Postma wrote that
"Moreover. certain persons. after viewing a photo of the LC/ (Laguna Copperplate Inscription),
alleged, without being asked, that they had seen a similarp;ece of copperplate with inscriptions around
the
same time (1987). Its importance, however, was not realized then, and the possible second page of the
LCI might hove ended up in o loco/junk yard ond been i"ctricvobly lost to posterity. M
Origins of the Inscription on the Laguna Copperplate

The inscription on the sul"VMng copperplate is in itself intriguing, and has provided enough material for scholars to
analyze. For instance, the type of script used in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription has been identified as the so-
called
'Early Kawi Saipt,.' a writing system that originated in the Indonesian island of Java, and was used across much of
maritime Southeast Asia during the 10th century AD.
In fact, this script is said to have been derived from the Pallava script, which has its origins in India. As for the language
of the inscription, it has been found to be heavily influenced linguistically by Sanskrit, Old Malay, and Old Javanese.
Both the type script, and the language of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, therefore, shows that this area was not
actually isolated from the rest of Southeast Asia, as had been previously assumed.
316

811/2020
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P/acos montioMd in the Laguna Copperplate lnSCliplion. ( Hf>Cror Santos)
The Inscription
The insaiption begins by providinga date:
"Hail' In the Saks-year 822; the month of Mstch-Ap,i; IJCXXJlrhng to the astronomer. tile fourth day
of the dark haff of tile moon; on MondflY.•
The Saka era has tts origins in India (supposedly mar1oog the ascension of lhe Kushan emperor Kanishka), and lhe year
822 is said to correspond with lhe year 900 AD in lhe Gregorian c:alEndar. The use of lhis calendrical system is further
evidence thatthere were culturallinks between this area ofSoutheastAsia and its neiglbors,which at that
time, were largelyunder the cultural influence ofInda
As for lhe subject matter of lhe Laguna Coppe<plate l~fion. ii has been suggested that lhe inscription is a "semi•
official certificate of acquittal of a debt incurred by a pe<SOO in high office. togelher with his whole family, all relatives and
descendants.·
416

Learning Activity: Critical Discourse
Requirement:
1. What do you think is the use of the discovered copperplate in Laguna in writing the
history of the Philippines?
2. The copperplate was accidentally discovered by a man who was dredging sand in
Lumbang River in Laguna. Dredging is part of a quarrying activity for the purpose of
accumulating sand and gravel for construction purposes. With the emergence of many
quarrying activities now a days, do you think there is still a possibility of discovering
more artifacts with the same value as the Laguna copperplate? What do you think is
the role of the National Historical Commission in making sure that areas with possible
historical value are protected and regulated?
3. Presidential Decree No. 1586 declares that any area which has historical significance
or has unique historic, archaeological, and scientific interests are considered
environmentally critical. Hence, the place where the copperplate was discovered
should be now considered environmentally critical area. You are hereby tasked to
produce any evidence like news clips, online article, or photo or any document to prove
that the area where the copperplate was discovered is already protected by the
government. If there is none, you are going to formulate recommendation to any
concerned government agency or local government unit.

Lesson 5: Week 6
Duties of the Katipunan of the Sons of the People

(KKK)
Learning Objectives
• Recite the decalogue of the Katipunan
• Examine the practicality of the decalogue during the time of revolution
• Compare the decalogue with the vision and mission of the Philippine National Police and
Philippine Army
• Construct a personalized decalogue for the present-day heroes

Although unpublished during Bonifacio’s lifetime, this Decalogue is today well known, printed
in schoolbooks and inscribed on monuments. The format in which Bonifacio sets out the duties of KKK
members obviously derives from the Old Testament, and in content the injunctions echo the “Programa
Masonica” and “Codigo Masonico” of the Gran Oriente Espanol. The “Codigo” for instance, similarly
opens with the direction to exalt the Creator, and similarly extols charity and love for one’s fellows. It,
too, enjoins lodge members to be calm, to be guided by reason, and to support one another, “even at the
cost of one’s life.” It, too, says members who break their obligations will be duly punished.
The crucial difference between the, masonic credo and Bonifacio’s Decalogue is one of ultimate
purpose. The mission of masonry, according to the Gran Oriente’s “Programa”, is exclusively
humanitarian: it strives to “foster charity and philanthropy among free men of good standing” and to
establish a “fraternity among mankind.” The mission of the Katipunan, the Decalogue makes clear, is to
liberate the country from enslavement.
Duties of the Sons of the People
1. Believe with a fervent heart in the creator.
2. Reflect always that a sincere faith in him involves love of one’s native land, because this
shows true love for one’s fellows.
3. Engrave on the heart the conviction that to die for the liberation of the country from
enslavement is the highest honor and fortune.
4. In any endeavor, the realization of good aspirations depends on calmness, perseverance,
reason and hope.
5. Guard the instructions and plan of the K K K as you would guard your own honor.
6. Anyone who falls into danger whist carrying out their duties should be supported by all, and
rescued even at the cost of life and riches.
7. Let each of us strive in the performance our duty to set a good example for others to follow.
8. Share whatever you can with whoever is needy.
9. Diligence in earning a livelihood is a true expression of love and affection for self, spouse,
children, brothers or compatriots.
10. Believe absolutely that scoundrels and traitors will be punished and good deeds will be
rewarded. Believe, likewise, that the aims of the K K K are blessed by creator, for the will of
the people is also His will.
Learning Activity: Personalized Decalogue Construction

Requirement:
Create your own decalogue dedicated to all frontliners during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Note that frontliners are considered modern-day heroes.

Lesson 6: Week 7
Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence

Written and Read by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista on June 12, 1898 at Cavite del Viejo (Kawit)
• Examine the contents of the act of declaration

Source: “Declaration of Philippine Independence.” In The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The
Laws of Malolos), edited by Sulpicio Guevara, 203-206. Manila: National Historical Commission, 1972.
Learning Activity: Evaluative Essay
Requirements:
1. What does the document want to convey?
2. How did the revolutionaries regard Aguinaldo based on the document?
3. According to the document, what do the symbols in the Philippine flag represent?
4. How did the Filipinos regard the United States according to the document?
5. What is the importance of this document in the history of our country?

Lesson 7: Week 8
1899 CONSTITUTION OF THE

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
(MALOLOS CONVENTION)
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:
• Examine the contents of the Malolos Constitution

• Appraise the prevailing conditions when the first constitution was made
• Sort significant provisions that still remain in the present constitution of the Philippines
The President of the Council,

Apolinario Mabini.
PREAMBLE
We, the Representatives of the Filipino people, lawfully convened, in order to establish justice, provide for
common defense, promote the general welfare, and insure the benefits of liberty, imploring the aid of the
Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the attainment of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the
following:
POLITICAL CONSTITUTION
TITLE I
THE REPUBLIC
Article 1. The political association of all Filipinos constitutes a nation, whose state shall be known as the
Philippine Republic
Article 2. The Philippine Republic is free and independent
Article 3. Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people.
TITLE II
THE GOVERNMENT
Article 4. The Government of the Republic is popular, representative, alternative, and responsible, and shall
exercise three distinct powers: namely, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. Any two or more of
these

three powers shall never be united in one person or cooperation, nor the legislative power vested in one single
individual.
TITLE III
RELIGION
Article 5. The State recognizes the freedom and equality of all religions, as well as the separation of the
Church and the State.
TITLE IV
THE FILIPINOS AND THEIR NATIONAL
AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
Article 6. The following are Filipinos:
1. All persons born in the Philippine territory. A vessel of Philippine registry is considered, for this
purpose, as part of Philippine territory.
2. Children of a Filipino father or mother, although born outside of the Philippines.
3. Foreigners who have obtained certification of naturalization.
4. Those who, without such certificate, have acquired a domicile in any town within Philippine territory.
It is understood that domicile is acquired by uninterrupted residence for two years in any locality within
Philippine territory, with an open abode and known occupation, and contributing to all the taxes imposed by
the Nation.
The condition of being a Filipino is lost in accordance with law.
Article 7. No Filipino or foreigner shall be detained nor imprisoned except for the commission of a crime and
in accordance with law.
Article 8. All persons detained shall be discharged or delivered to the judicial authority within 24 hours
following the act of detention. All detentions shall be without legal effect, unless the arrested person is duly
prosecuted within 72 hours after delivery to a competent court. The accused shall be duly notified of such
proceeding within the same period.
Article 9. No Filipino shall be imprisoned except by virtue of an order by a competent court. The order of
imprisonment shall be ratified or confirmed within 72 hours following the said order, after the accused has
been heard.
Article 10. No one shall enter the dwelling house of any Filipino or a foreigner residing in the Philippines
without his consent except in urgent cases of fire, inundation, earthquake or similar dangers, or by reason of
unlawful aggression from within, or in order to assist a person therein who cries for help. Outside of these
cases, the entry into the dwelling house of any Filipino or foreign resident in the Philippines or the search of his
papers and effects can only be decreed by a competent court and executed only in the daytime. The search of
papers and effects shall be made always in the presence of the person searched or of a member of his family
and, in their absence, of two witnesses resident of the same place. However, when a criminal caught in fraganti
should take refuge in his dwelling house, the authorities in pursuit may enter into it, only for the purpose of
making an arrest. If a criminal should take refuge in the dwelling house of a foreigner, the consent of a latter
must first be obtained.

Article 11. No Filipino shall be compelled to change his residence or domicile except by virtue of a
final judgment.
Article 12. In no case may correspondence confided to the post office be detained or opened by government
authorities, nor any telegraphic or telephonic message detained. However, by virtue of a competent court,
correspondence may be detained and opened in the presence of the sender.
Article 13. All orders of imprisonment, of search of a dwelling house, or detention of written correspondence,
telegraph or telephone, must be justified. When an order lacks this requisite, or when the grounds on which the
act was founded is proven in court to be unlawful or manifestly insufficient, the person to be detained or
whose imprisonment has not been ratified within the period prescribed in Art. 9, or whose correspondence has
been detained, shall have the right to recover damages.
Article 14. No Filipino shall be prosecuted or sentenced, except by a judge or court of proper jurisdiction and
according to the procedure prescribed by law.
Article 15. Except in the cases provided by the Constitution, all persons detained or imprisoned not in
accordance with legal formalities shall be released upon his own petition or upon petition of another person.
The law shall determine the manner of proceeding summarily in this instance, as well as the personal and
pecuniary penalties which shall be imposed upon the person who ordered, executed or to be executed the
illegal detention or imprisonment.
Article 16. No one shall be temporarily or permanently deprived of rights or dstured in his enjoyment thereof,
except by virtue of judicial sentence. The officials who, under any pretext whatsoever, should violate this
provision, shall be personally liable for the damages caused.
Article 17. No one shall be deprived of his property by expropriation except on grounds of public necessity
and benefit, previously declared and justified by proper authorities, and indemnifying the owner thereof prior
to expropriation.
Article 18. No one shall be obliged to pay any public tax which had not been approved by the National
Assembly or by local popular governments legally so authorized, and which is not in the manner prescribed by
the law.
Article 19. No Filipino who is in full enjoyment of his civil or political rights, shall be impeded in the free
exercise of said rights.
Article 20. Neither shall any Filipino be deprived:
1. Of the right to freely express his ideas or opinions, orally or in writing, through the use of the press or
other similar means.
2. Of the right of association for purposes of human life and which are not contrary to public morals; and
lastly
3. Of the right to send petitions to the authorities, individually or collectively.
The right of petition shall not be exercised through any kind of armed force.
Article 21. The exercise of the rights provided for in the preceding article shall be subject to general
provisions regulating the same.
Article 22. Crimes committed on the occasion of the exercise of rights provided for in this title, shall be
punished by the courts in accordance with the laws.
Article 23. Any Filipino may establish and maintain institutions of learning, in accordance with the laws
authorizing them. Public education shall be free and obligatory in all schools of the nation.
Article 24. Foreigners may freely reside in Philippine territory, subject to legal dispositions regulating the
matter; may engage in any occupation or profession for the exercise of which no special license is required by
law to be issued by the national authorities.
Article 25. No Filipino who is in full enjoyment of his political and civil rights shall be impeded in his right to
travel freely abroad or in his right to transfer his residence or possessions to another country, except as to his
obligations to contribute to military service or the maintenance of public taxes.
Article 26. No foreigner who has not been naturalized may exercise in the Philippines any office which carries
with it any authority or jurisdictional powers.
Article 27. All Filipinos are obliged to defend his country with arms when called upon by law, and to
contribute to the expenses of the State in proportion to his means.
Article 28. The enumeration of the rights provided for in this title does not imply the denial of other rights not
mentioned.
Article 29. The prior authorization to prosecute a public official in the ordinary courts is not necessary,
whatever may be the crime committed.
A superior order shall not exempt a public official from liability in the cases which constitute apparent and
clear violations of constitutional precepts. In others, the agents of the law shall only be exempted if they did
not exercise the authority.
Article 30. The guarantees provided for in Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 20
shall not be suspended, partially or wholly, in any part of the Republic, except temporarily and by authority of
law, when the security of the State in extraordinary circumstances so demands.
When promulgated in any territory where the suspension applies, there shall be a special law which shall
govern during the period of the suspension, according to the circumstances prevailing.
The law of suspension as well as the special law to govern shall be approved by the National Assembly, and in
case the latter is in recess, the Government shall have the power to decree the same jointly with the Permanent
Commission, without prejudice to convoking the Assembly without the least delay and report to it what had
been done.
However, any suspension made shall not affect more rights than those mentioned in the first paragraph of this
Article nor authorize the Government to banish or deport from the Philippines any Filipino.
Article 31. In the Republic of the Philippines, no one shall be judged by a special law nor by special tribunals.
No person or corporation may enjoy privileges or emoluments which are not in compensation for public
service rendered and authorized by law. War and marine laws shall apply only for crimes and delicts which
have intimate relation to military or naval discipline.
Article 32. No Filipino shall establish laws on primogeniture, nor institutions restrictive of property rights, nor
accept honors, decorations, or honorific titles or nobility from foreign nations without the consent of the
Government. Neither shall the Government establish in the Republic institutions mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, nor confer honors, decorations, or honorific titles of nobility to any Filipino.

The Nation, however, may reward by special law approved by the Assembly, conspicuous services rendered by
citizens of the country.
TITLE V
THE LEGISLATIVE POWER
Article 33. Legislative power shall be exercised by an Assembly of Representatives of the
Nation. This Assembly shall be organized in the form and manner determined by law.
Article 34. The Members of the Assembly shall represent the who nation and not exclusively the electors who
elected them.
Article 35. No representative shall receive from his electors any imperative mandate
whatsoever.
Article 36. The Assembly shall meet every year. The President of the Republic has the right to convoke it,
suspend and close its sessions, and dissolve the same, within the periods prescribed by law enacted by the
Assembly or by the Permanent Commission.
Article 37. The Assembly shall be open at least three months each year, without including in this period the
time spent in its organization.
The President of the Republic shall convoke the Assembly, not later than the 15th day of
April.
Article 38. In extraordinary cases, he may convoke the Assembly outside of the period fixed by law, as
determined by the Permanent Commission, and prolong its law-making, provided the extended period does not
exceed one month and provided further that such extensions do not take place more than twice during the same
legislative term.
Article 39. The National Assembly, jointly with the special Representatives, shall organize committees for the
organization of the Assembly and for the election of the new President of the Republic, which shall be formed
at least one month before the expiration of the term of office of the Representatives.
In case of death or resignation of the President of the Republic, the Assembly shall meet in session by its own
right or by initiative of the President or of the Permanent Commission.
Article 40. In the meantime, that the new President has not been chosen, his functions shall be exercised by the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whose office shall be taken over by one of the Justices of the Court, in
accordance with law.
Article 41. Any session of the Assembly held outside the period of ordinary legislature shall be unlawful and
void. The case provided in Article 30 and in which the Assembly has constituted itself into a Tribunal of
Justice shall be excepted, but in the latter case no other functions shall be exercised except that pertaining to
judicial functions.
Article 42. The sessions of the Assembly shall be public. However, sessions may be held in secret upon
petition of a certain number of its members fixed by the Rules, deciding afterwards by an absolute majority of
votes of the members present if the discussion on the same subject has to continue in public.

Article 43. The President of the Republic shall communicate with the Assembly by means of messages, which
shall be read by a Department Secretary.

The Department Secretaries shall have the right to be heard in the Assembly, upon their request, and they may
be represented in the discussion of certain bills by Commissioners appointed by decrees of the President of the
Republic.
Article 44. The Assembly may constitute itself into a Tribunal of Justice to hear and determine crimes
committed against the security of the State by the President of the Republic and members of the Council of
Government, by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and by the Solicitor General of the Nation, by means
of a decree promulgating it, or by the Permanent Commission, or by the President of the Republic upon
petition of the Solicitor General or Council of Government.
The law shall determine the mode and manner of the accusation, instruction, and disposition of the
proceedings.
Article 45. No member of the Assembly shall be prosecuted nor held accountable for the opinions expressed
by him, nor by the vote taken by him in the discharge of his office.
Article 46. No member of the Assembly shall be prosecuted criminally without authority of the Assembly or
of the Permanent Commission to which an immediate report of the facts shall be made, for its proper action.
The imprisonment, detention, or apprehension of a member of the Assembly shall not be carried out without
the prior authority of the same or by the Permanent Commission. The moment the Assembly is notified of the
order of imprisonment, it shall incur liability if, within two days following the notification, it does not
authorize the imprisonment or give sufficient reason upon which the refusal is based.
Article 47. The National Assembly shall have the following additional powers:
1. To approve Rules for its internal government.

2. To examine the legality of the elections and the legal qualifications of the elected members.
3. To elect its President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries.
Until the Assembly has been dissolved, the President, Vice-Presidents, and Secretaries shall continue
to exercise their office for the period of four legislative terms; and
4. To accept the resignations of its members and grant privileges in accordance with the Rules.
Article 48. No bill shall become law without having been voted on by the Assembly. To approve a bill, the
presence in the Assembly of at least one-fourth of the total number of the members whose elections have been
duly approved and taken the oath of office shall be necessary.
Article 49. No bill shall be approved by the Assembly until after it has been voted upon as a whole and
subsequently article by article.
Article 50. The Assembly shall have the right of censure, and each of the members the right of interpellation.
Article 51. The initiative in the presentation of bills belongs to the President of the Republic and to the
Assembly.
Article 52. Any member of the Assembly who accepts from the Government any pension, employment, or
office with salary, is understood to have renounced his membership. From this shall be excepted the
employment as Secretary of the Government of the Republic and other offices provided for by special laws.

Article 53. The office of Representatives shall be for a term of four years, and shall be compensated by a sum
fixed by law, according to the circumstances.

Those who absent themselves during the entire period of the legislative sessions shall not be entitled to any
compensation; but they may be allowed to recover the right to compensation should they attend subsequently.
TITLE VI
THE PERMANENT COMMISSION
Article 54. The Assembly, before adjournment, shall elect seven of its members to form the Permanent
Commission during the period of adjournment, which shall designate at its first session, the President and the
Secretary.
Article 55. The Permanent Commission, during the adjournment of the Assembly, shall have the following
attributes:
1. Declare if there is sufficient cause to proceed against the President of the Republic, the
Representatives, Department secretaries, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the Solicitor-
General in the cases provided by this Constitution.
2. Convoke the Assembly to a special session in the cases where the latter should constitute itself into a
Tribunal of Justice.
3. To act upon pending matters which require proper action.
4. Convoke the Assembly in special sessions when the exigencies of the situation so demand.
5. Supplement the powers of the Assembly in accordance with the Constitution, excepting the act of
voting
and approving laws.
The Permanent Commission shall meet in session whenever convoked by the presiding officer, in accordance
with this Constitution.
TITLE VII
THE EXECUTIVE POWER
Article 56. The Executive Power shall be vested in the President of the Republic, who shall exercise it
through his Department Secretaries.
Article 57. The administration of the particular interests of towns, provinces, and of the State shall correspond,
respectively, to the Popular Assembles, the Provincial Assemblies, and to the Administration in power, in
accordance with the laws, and observing the most liberal policy of decentralization and administrative
autonomy.
TITLE VIII
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
Article 58. The President of the Republic shall be elected by absolute majority of votes by the Assembly and
by the special Representatives, convened in chamber assembles. His term of office shall be four years, and
may be reelected.
Article 59. The President of the Republic shall have the right to initiate the introduction of bills equally with
the members of the Assembly, and promulgate the laws when duly voted and approved by the latter, and shall
see to it that the same are duly executed.
Article 60. The power to execute the laws shall extend to all cases conducive to the preservation of internal
public order and to the external security of the State.

Article 61. The President shall promulgate the laws duly approved by him within 20 days following their
transmittal to him by the Assembly.
Article 62. If within this period, the President should fail to promulgate them, he shall return them to the
Assembly with his reasons for the return, in which case the Assembly may reconsider same, and it shall be
presumed by a vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Assembly present in a quorum. If repassed in
the manner indicated, the Government shall promulgate same within ten days, with a manifestation of its non-
conformity. The obligation is imposed upon the Government if it allows twenty days to elapse without
returning the bill to the Assembly.
Article 63. When the promulgation of a law has been declared urgent by express will of an absolute majority
of votes of the Assembly, the President of the Republic may require the Assembly to re-approve same which
cannot be refused, and if the same bill is repassed, the President shall promulgate it within the legal period,
without prejudice to his making of record his non-conformity with the bill.
Article 64. The promulgation of laws shall be made by publishing them in the official gazette of the Republic,
and shall have the force of law thirty days following such publication.
Article 65. The President of the Republic shall have at his disposal the army and the navy, and may declare
war and make and ratify treaties with the prior consent of the Assembly.
Article 66. Treaties of peace shall not take effect until voted upon by the Assembly.
Article 67. The President of the Republic, in addition to his duty to execute the laws,
shall:
1. Supervise civil and military employees in accordance with the laws.

2. Appoint the Secretaries of the Government.
3. Direct the diplomatic and commercial relations with foreign powers.
4. See to it that justice is duly and promptly administered throughout the Philippines.
5. Grant pardon to convicted criminals in accordance with the laws, except any special provision relating
to the Secretaries of the Government.
6. Preside over all national functions and receive ambassadors and accredited representatives of foreign
powers.
Article 68. The President of the Republic may be authorized by special

law:
1. To alienate, transfer or exchange any portion of Philippine territory.

2. To incorporate any other territory to the Philippine territory.
3. To admit the stationing of foreign troops in Philippine territory.
4. To ratify of alliance, defensive as well as offensive, special treaties of commerce, those which stipulate
to grant subsidies to a foreign power, and those which may compel Filipinos to render personal
service. Secret treaties in no case may prevail over the provisions of open treaties or treaties made
publicly.
5. To grant general amnesties and pardons.

6. To coin money.
Article 69. To the President belongs the power to issue regulations for the compliance and application of the
laws in accordance with the requisites prescribed in said laws.
Article 70. The President of the Philippines, with the prior approval by majority vote of the Representatives,
may dissolve the Assembly before the expiration of its legislation term. In this case, new elections shall be
called within three months.
Article 71. The President of the Republic may be held liable only for cases of high
treason.
Article 72. The salary of the President of the Republic shall be fixed by special law which may not be changed
except after the presidential term has expired.
TITLE IX
THE SECRETARIES OF GOVERNMENT
Article 73. The Council of Government is composed of one President and seven secretaries, each of whom
shall have under his charge the portfolios of Foreign Relations, Interior, Finance, War and Marine, Public
Education, Communications and Public Works, and Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce.
Article 74. All the acts done by the President of the Republic in the discharge of his duties shall be signed
by the corresponding Secretary. No public official shall give official recognition to any act unless this
requisite is complied with.
Article 75. The Secretaries of Government are jointly responsible to the Assembly for the general
administration of the Government, and individually for their respective personal acts.
Article 76. In order to exempt them from responsibility, when held guilty by the Assembly, a petition to this
effect approved by absolute majority of the Representatives is necessary.
TITLE X
THE JUDICIAL POWER
Article 77. To the Court corresponds exclusively the power to apply the laws, in the name of the Nation, in all
civil and criminal trials. The same codes of laws shall be applied throughout the Republic, without prejudice to
certain variations according to circumstances as determined by law. In all trials, civil, criminal, and
administrative, all citizens shall be governed by one code of laws and procedure.
Article 78. The courts of justice shall not apply general local regulations, except when they conform to the
laws.
Article 79. The exercise of judicial power shall be vested in one Supreme Court and in other courts established
by law. Their composition, organization, and other attributes shall be determined by the laws creating them.
Article 80. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Solicitor-General shall be chosen by the National
Assembly in concurrence with the President of the Republic and the Secretaries of the Government, and shall
be absolutely independent of the Legislative and Executive Powers.
Article 81. Any citizen may file suit against any member exercising the Judicial Power for any crime
committed by them in the discharge of their office.
TITLE XI
PROVINCIAL AND POPULAR ASSEMBLIES

Article 82. The organization and attributes of provincial and popular assemblies shall be governed by their
respective laws. These laws shall conform to the following principles:

1. The government and management of the particular interests of the province or town shall be
discharged by their respective corporations, the principle of direct and popular elections being the
basis underlying each of them.
2. Publicity of their sessions, within the limits provided by law.
3. Publication of all appropriations, accounts, and agreements affecting same.
4. Government interference and, in the absence thereof, by the National Assembly, to prevent provinces
and municipalities exceeding their powers and attributes to the prejudice of the interest of individuals
and of the Nation at large.
5. Power of taxation shall be exercised to the end that provincial and municipal taxation do not come into
conflict with the power of taxation of the State.
TITLE XII ADMINISTRATION OF

THE STATE
Article 83. The Government shall submit every year to the Assembly a budget of expenditures and income,
indicating the changes made from those of the preceding year, accompanying the same with a balance sheet as
of the end of the year, in accordance with law. This budget shall be submitted to the Assembly within ten days
following the commencement of its session.
Article 85. The Government, in order to dispose of the property and effects of the State, and to borrow money
secured by mortgage or credit of the Nation, must be authorized by special law.
Article 86. Public debts contracted by the Government of the Republic, in accordance with the provisions of
this
Constitution, shall be under the special guarantee of the Nation.
No debt shall be contracted unless the means of paying the same are voted upon.
Article 87. All laws relating to income, public expenses, or public credits shall be considered as part of
the appropriation and shall be published as such.
Article 88. The Assembly shall determine every year, upon the recommendation of the President of the
Republic, the military forces by land and sea.
TITLE XIII
AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION
Article 89. The Assembly, on its own initiative or that of the President of the Republic, may propose
amendments to the Constitution, indicating what Article or Articles are to be amended.
Article 90. This proposal having been made, the President of the Republic shall dissolve the Assembly, and
shall convoke a Constituent Assembly which shall meet within three months. In the decree convoking the
Constituent Assembly, the resolution mentioned in the preceding Article shall be inserted.
TITLE XIV CONSTITUTIONAL

OBSERVANCE, OATH, AND
LANGUAGE
Article 91. The President of the Republic, the Government, the Assembly, and all Filipino citizens shall
faithfully observe the provisions of the Constitution; and the Legislative Power, upon approval of the

Appropriations Act, shall examine if the Constitution has been strictly complied with and whether violations, if
any, have been duly corrected and those responsible for the violations held liable.
Article 92. The President of the Republic and all other officials of the Nation shall not enter into the discharge
of their office without having taken the prescribed oath. The oath of the President of the Republic shall be
taken before the National Assembly. The other officials of the Nation shall take their oath before the
authorities determined by law.
Article 93. The use of languages spoken in the Philippines shall be optional. Their use cannot be regulated
except by virtue of law, and solely for acts of public authority and in the courts. For these acts the Spanish
language may be used in the meantime.
TRANSITORY PROVISIONS
Article 94. Meanwhile and without prejudice to the provisions of Article 48 and to the acts of the commissions
designated by the Assembly to translate and submit to the same the organic laws in the development and
application of the rights granted to Filipino citizens and for the government of public powers therein
mentioned, the laws of the Republic shall be considered those found existing in these islands before the
emancipation of the same.
The provisions of the Civil Code relating to marriage and civil registry, suspended by the Governor General of
these islands; the Instructions of April 26, 1888 to carry into effect Articles 77, 78, 79, and 82 of said Code; the
law on civil registry of June 17, 1870 which refers to Article 332 of the same, and the Regulation of December
13 following for the enforcement of this law, without prejudice to the Chiefs of towns continuing to be in
charge
of inscriptions in the civil registry and intervening in the celebration of marriage between Catholics, shall
also be deemed in force and effect.
Article 95. In the meantime that the laws referred to in the preceding Article have not been approved or
enforced, the Spanish laws which said article allows to be enforced provisionally may be amended by special
law.
Article 96. Once the laws approved by the Assembly have been promulgated in accordance with Article 94,
the Article 94, the Government of the Republic shall have the power to issue decrees and regulations
necessary for the immediate organization of the various organs of the State.
Article 97. The present President of the Revolutionary Government shall assume later the title of President of
the Republic and shall discharge the duties of this office until the Assembly when convoked proceeds to the
election of one who shall definitely exercise the duties of the office.
Article 98. The present Congress, composed of members by suffrage or by decree, shall last for four years, or
for the duration of the present legislative term commencing on the 15th of April of next year.
Article 99. Notwithstanding the general rule established in part 2 of Article 4, in the meantime that the country
is fighting for its independence, the Government is empowered to resolve during the closure of the Congress
all questions and difficulties not provided for in the laws, which give rise to unforeseen events, of which the
Permanent Commission shall be duly apprised as well as the Assembly when it meets in accordance with this
Constitution.
Article 100. The execution of Article 5, Title III shall be suspended until the constituent Assembly meets in
session. In the meantime, municipalities which require spiritual ministry of a Filipino priest may provide for
his necessary maintenance.

Article 101. Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 62 and 63, bills returned by the President of the
Republic to the Congress may not be repassed except in the legislature of the following year, this suspension
being under the responsibility of the President and his Council of Government. When these conditions have
been fulfilled, the promulgation of said laws shall be obligatory within ten days, without prejudice to the
President making of record his non-conformity. If the reapproval is made in subsequent legislative terms, it
shall be deemed law approved for the first time.
Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1899-malolos-constitution/
Learning Activity: Textual Analysis / Essay

Requirements:
1. How does the Malolos Constitution define sovereignty?
2. How did the Malolos Constitution regard independence?
3. What is a republic? Do you think it is the most appropriate form of government for the
Philippines? Explain your answer.
4. How should a republic exercise its power based on the Malolos Constitution?
5. Why do you think doe the Malolos Constitution put so much emphasis on the protection
and promulgation of the rights of citizens?

Lesson 8: Week 9
Treaty of Peace between the United States of America

and the Kingdom of Spain (Treaty of Paris)
Signed in Paris, 10 December 1898
By the President of the United States of America
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the provisions of the Treaty of Paris
• Explain the role of the United States of America on the liberation of the Philippines from
the Spanish colonization
A Proclamation
Whereas, a Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and Her Majesty the
Queen Regent of Spain, in the name of her August Son, Don Alfonso XIII, was concluded and
signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Paris on the tenth day of December, 1898, the
original of which Convention being in the English and Spanish languages, is word for word as
follows:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN REGENT
OF SPAIN, IN THE NAME OF HER AUGUST SON DON ALFONSO XIII, desiring to end the
state of war now existing between the two countries, have for that purpose appointed as
Plenipotentiaries:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
WILLIAM R. DAY, CUSHMAN K. DAVIS, WILLIAM P. FRYE, GEORGE GRAY, and
WHITELAW REID, citizens of the United States;
AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN REGENT OF SPAIN,
DON EUGENIO MONTERO RIOS, President of the Senate
DON BUENAVENTURA De ABARZUZA, Senator of the Kingdom and ex-Minister of the
Crown,
DON JOSE DE GARNICA, Deputy to the Cortes and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court;

DON WENCESLAO RAMIREZ DE VILLA-URRUTIA, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary at Brussels, and
DON RAFAEL CERERO, General of Divisions;
Who, having assembled in Paris, and having exchange their full powers, which were found to be
in due and proper form, have, after discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the
following articles:
ARTICLE I
Spain relinquishes all claims of sovereignty over and title in Cuba. And as the island is,
upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied by the United States, the United States will, so long
such occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that may under international law
result from the fact of its occupation, for the protection of life and property.
ARTICLE II
Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other islands now under
Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the island of Guam in the Marianas or Ladrones.
ARTICLE III
Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and
comprehending the islands lying within the following line:
A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth parallel of north latitude, and
through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi, from the one hundred and eighteenth
(118th) to the one hundred and twenty seventh (127th) degrees meridian of longitude east of
Greenwich, thence along the one hundred and twenty seventh (127th) degree meridian of
longitude east of Greenwich to the parallel of four degree and forty five minutes north latitude,
thence along the parallel of four degrees and forty five minutes north latitude to its intersection
with the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty five minutes east of
Greenwich.
The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000)
within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.
ARTICLE IV
The United States will, for the term of ten years from the date of the exchange of the
ratifications of the present treaty, admit Spanish ships and merchandise to the sports of the
Philippine Islands on the same terms as ships and merchandise of the United States.
ARTICLE V
The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty, send back to Spain, at its
own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as prisoners of war on the capture of Manila by the
American forces. The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them.

The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands and Guam shall be
completed shall be fixed by the two Governments. Stands of colors, uncaptured war vessels,
small arms, guns of all calibers, with their carriages and accessories, powder, ammunition,
livestock, and materials and supplies of all kinds, belonging to the land and naval forces of Spain
in the Philippines and Guam, remain the property of Spain.
ARTICLE VI
Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all prisoners of war, and all
persons detained or imprisoned for political offences, in connection with the insurrections in
Cuba and the Philippines and the war with the United States.
The Government of the United States will at its own cost return to Spain and the
Government of Spain will at its own cost return to the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the
Philippines, according to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or caused to
be released by them, respectively, under this article.
ARTICLE VII
The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for indemnity, national and
individual, of every kind, of either Government, or of its citizens or subjects, against the other
Government. The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims of its citizens against Spain
relinquished in this article.
ARTICLE VIII
And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, to which
the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in any respect impair the property or rights which by law
belong to the peaceful possession of property of all kinds, of provinces, municipalities, public or
private establishments, ecclesiastical or civic bodies, or any other associations having legal
capacity to acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories renounced or ceded, or of
private individuals, of whatsoever nationality such individuals may be.
The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, includes all documents
exclusively referring to the sovereignty relinquished or ceded that may exist in the achieves of
the Peninsula. Where any document in such achieves only in part relates to said sovereignty, a
copy of such part will be furnished whenever it shall be requested. Like rules shall be
reciprocally observed in favor of Spain in respect of documents in the achieves of the islands
above referred to.
In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, are also included such
rights as the Crown of Spain and its authorities possess in respect of the official achieves and
records, executives as well as judicial, in the island above referred to, which relate to said islands
or the rights and property of their inhabitants.
ARTICLE IX

In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of
Spain by making, before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange of
ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in
default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the
nationality of the territory in which they may reside.
The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded
to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.
ARTICLE X
The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty
shall be secured in the free exercise of their religion.
ARTICLE XI
The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this treaty cedes or
relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction
of the courts of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws governing the
same; and they shall have the right to appear before such courts, and to pursue the same course as
citizens of the country to which the courts belong.
ARTICLE XII
Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty in
the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined
according to the following rules:
1. Judgements rendered either in civil suits between private individuals, or in criminal
matters, before the date mentioned, and with respect to which there is no recourse or
rights of review under the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be
executed in due form by competent authority in the territory within which such
judgements should be carried out.
2. Civil suits between private individuals which may on the date mentioned be
undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgement before the court in which they may
then be pending or in the court that may be substituted there for.
3. Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the Supreme Court of Spain
against citizens of the territory which by this treaty ceases to be Spanish shall
continue under its jurisdiction until final judgement; but, such judgement having been
rendered the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent authority of the
place in which the case arose.
ARTICLE XIII
The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired by Spaniards in the
Island of Cuba, and in Porto Rico, in Philippines and other ceded territories, at the time of the
exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be respected. Spanish scientific,
literary and artistic works, not subversive of public order in the territories in question, shall

continue to be admitted free of duty into such territories, for the period of ten years, to be
reckoned from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.
ARTICLE XIV
Spain shall have the power to establish consular officers in the sports and places of the
territories, the sovereignty over which has been either relinquished or ceded by the present treaty.
ARTICLE XV
The government of each country will, for the term of ten years, accord to the merchant
vessels of the other country the same treatment in respect of all port charges, including entrance
and clearance dues, light dues, and tonnage duties, as it accords to its own merchant vessels, not
engaged in the coast wide trade.
This article may at any time be terminated on six months’ notice given by their
Government to the other.
ARTICLE XVI
It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the United States with
respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its occupancy thereof; but it will upon the termination
of such occupancy, advice any Government established in the island to assume the same
obligations.
ARTICLE XVII
The president treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain;
and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from the date hereof or
earlier if possible.
Now, therefore, be it known that I, William McKinley, President of United States of
America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every
article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and
the citizens thereof.
Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1898/12/10/treaty-of-peace-between-the-united-states-of-
america-and-the-kingdom-of-spain-treaty-of-paris-signed-in-paris-december-10-1898/
Learning Activity: Reaction Paper

Requirement:
Of the seventeen (17) articles of the Treaty of Paris, select one (1) article which you think
is favorable to the people of the Philippines. Select another one (1) article which you think is
unfavorable to the people of the Philippines. Explain each of them.

Lesson 9: Week 10
Jose Rizal’s Retraction Controversy

The Cuerpo de Vigilancia Version
Learning Objectives
• Investigate the possibility of Rizal to retract his statements against the church and the
Spanish government
• Assess the authenticity of the said claims or documents
• Explain the consequences of Rizal’s retraction claim to Philippine historiogrpahy
Retraction—the act of taking back an offer or statement, or admitting that the previous statement
was false (dictionary.cambridge.org)

The report of Moreno (NAP Manuscript A-6, Doc. 1) presents another eyewitness
account of what transpired in Rizal’s prison cell before he was executed. It contains several
details that could be used for and against the claim that Rizal returned to the Catholic fold and
renounced Masonry. The account may be considered more objective than earlier ones because
Moreno was neither a member of the Catholic hierarchy nor a known Mason. He was in Fort
Santiago not to serve a particular interest group but simply to perform a function connected with
his work. Moreover, the fact that his report was written a day after the event lessened the
possibility that it was edited to please a particular group. Since the report is not very long, a
translation of it will be presented first before analyzing it:
Most Illustrious Sir, the agent of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia stationed in Fort Santiago to
report on the events during the [illegible] day in prison of the accused Jose Rizal,
informs me on this date of the following:
At 7:50 yesterday morning, Jose Rizal entered death row accompanied by his counsel,
Señor Taviel de Andrade, and the Jesuit priest [Jose] Vilaclara. At the urgings of the
former and moments after entering, he was served a light breakfast. At approximately 9,
the Adjutant of the Garrison, Señor [Eloy] Maure, asked Rizal if he wanted anything. He
replied that at the moment he only wanted a prayer book which was brought to him
shortly by Father [Estanislao] March.
Señor Andrade left death row at 10 and Rizal spoke for a long while with the Jesuit
fathers, March and Vilaclara, regarding religious matters, it seems. It appears that
these two
presented him with a prepared retraction on his life and deeds that he refused to sign.
They argued about the matter until 12:30 when Rizal ate some poached egg and a little
chicken. Afterwards he asked to leave to write and wrote for a long time by himself.
At 3 in the afternoon, Father March entered the chapel and Rizal handed him what he
had written. Immediately the chief of the firing squad, Señor [Juan] del Fresno and the
Assistant of the Plaza, Señor Maure, were informed. They entered death row and
together with Rizal signed the document that the accused had written. It seems this was
the retraction.
From 3 to 5:30 in the afternoon, Rizal read his prayer book several times, prayed
kneeling before the altar and in the company of Fathers Vilaclara and March, read the
Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity repeatedly as well as the Prayers for the Departing
Soul.
At 6 in the afternoon the following persons arrived and entered the chapel; Teodora
Alonzo, mother of Rizal, and his sisters, Lucia, Maria, Olimpia, Josefa, Trinidad and
Dolores. Embracing them, the accused bade them farewell with great strength of
character and without shedding a tear. The mother of Rizal left the chapel weeping and
carrying two bundles of several utensils belonging to her son who had used them while in
prison.
A little after 8 in the evening, at the urgings of Señor Andrade, the accused was served a
plate of tinola, his last meal on earth. The Assistant of the Plaza, Señor Maure and
Fathers March and Vilaclara visited him at 9 in the evening. He rested until 4 in the
morning and again resumed praying before the altar.
At 5 this morning of the 30th, the lover of Rizal arrived at the prison accompanied by his
sister Pilar, both dressed in mourning. Only the former entered the chapel, followed by a
military chaplain whose name I cannot ascertain. Donning his formal clothes and aided
by a soldier of the artillery, the nuptials of Rizal and the woman who had been his lover
were performed at the point of death (in articulo mortis). After embracing him she left,
flooded with tears.
Rizal heard mass and confessed to Father March. Afterwards he heard another mass
where he received communion. At 7:30, a European artilleryman handcuffed him and he
left for the place of execution accompanied by various Jesuits, his counsel and the
Assistant of the Plaza. Father March gave him a holy picture of the Virgin that Rizal
kissed repeatedly.
When the accused left, I noticed he was very pale but I am very certain that all the time
he was imprisoned he demonstrated great strength of character and composure.
God grant Your Excellency.

Manila 30 December 1896.
Chief Inspector Federico Moreno (Harper 1997)

Moreno’s report contains details that are not consistent with Fr. Balaguer’s
affidavit. The most serious and obvious discrepancy is that Moreno never mentioned
Fr. Balaguer in his report. All throughout the history of the retraction controversy, Fr.
Balaguer consistently claimed that he was present in Rizal’s prison cell and actively
involved in convincing him to retract. All other pro-retraction advocates who came
after Fr. Balaguer took his account as historical fact and argued their case using him
as their primary source. The Masons attacked Fr. Balaguer’s narrative, but they never
questioned his claim that he was a witness to this event. However, in Moreno’s
account only two Jesuits are identified: Fr. Jose Villaclara and Fr. Estanislao March.
In his affidavit, Fr. Balaguer declared that he talked to Rizal three times on
December 29, 1896. The first time was in the morning, from 10 to 12:30. It was
during this meeting that he presented the retraction template to Rizal but the latter did
not sign. Moreno confirmed this meeting, including the presentation of the draft
retraction. But he reported that Rizal was talking not to Fr. Balaguer but to Frs. March
and Vilaclara. Moreno also confirmed that Frs. March and Vilaclara returned to Rizal
around 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Fr. Balaguer claimed in his affidavit that he was
one of Rizal’s afternoon visitors. Fr. Balaguer continued that the third time he talked
to Rizal was around 10 in the evening. He had another lengthy and passionate
discussion with him for more than an hour. It was on this occasion that Rizal finally
signed his retraction letter. Moreno confirmed that Rizal had visitors after dinner, but
the persons he identified were Señor Andrade, Señor Maure, and Frs. March and
Vilaclara. Again, Fr. Balaguer was not mentioned, and the time of the meeting was 9
o’clock and not shortly before midnight. Neither did Moreno’s report mention that
they discussed issues concerning faith and the retraction. The narrative is short and
ends with Rizal going to bed.
Moreno’s report is a big blow to the credibility of Fr. Balaguer. The fact that
Moreno never mentioned him in his report casts a cloud of doubt on the veracity and
accuracy of the affidavit that he executed. If we are to believe Moreno, Fr. Balaguer
did not have personal knowledge of what happened to Rizal the day before he died. If
his affidavit contains accurate historical details, he might have gotten them from those
who were with Rizal on December 29, 1896. If Fr. Balaguer was the chief negotiator
who convinced Rizal to recant, and if he talked to Rizal three times that day, Moreno
would surely have inquired who he was. There is a remote possibility that Moreno
did not know Fr. Balaguer because he was a priest and not an ordinary visitor. Since
Moreno was able to identify the names of Rizal’s relatives and the other visitors who
talked to him, there is no reason why Moreno would not mention Fr. Balaguer in his
report if indeed he talked to Rizal three times.

Moreno’s report may have damaged the credibility of Fr. Balanguer, but it did
not refute the claim that Rizal retracted. It mentions that when Fr. March returned at 3
o’clock in the afternoon, Rizal handed him a document. Then it says that Rizal,
together with Juan del Fresno and Señor Maure, signed the document. In the retraction
document that Fr. Gracia found in 1935, one sees that the three persons Moreno
identified were signatories of the document. Moreno did not provide details on the
contents of the document, probably because he was witnessing the event from a
distance. But that did not prevent him from presupposing that the document was
Rizal’s retraction letter. He simply wrote, “It seems this was the retraction [parece
que el escrito era la retractación].”
The latter part of Moreno’s report confirmed a few other controversial events
that occurred before Rizal was executed. Moreno reported that right after Rizal signed
the alleged retraction letter, he read the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity as well as the
Prayers for the Departing Soul. While kneeling in front of the altar, he also read his
prayer book in the company of Frs. Vilaclara and March. Moreno also reported that in
the early morning of the following day, Rizal and Josephine Bracken got married. The
ceremony was done in articulo mortis (at the point of death), and there were no
sponsors or witnesses present. Moreover, Moreno did not mention that the couple
signed a marriage contract. This should explain why this document remains
unaccounted for until today, and therefore people should stop looking for it. All these
details in Moreno’s report are indirect forms of proof that Rizal retracted. Archbishop
Nozaleda and Fr. Pio Pi’s instructions were clear that Rizal should not be given the
sacraments unless he retracted his anti-Catholic beliefs. The fact that the marriage
took place is a confirmation that Rizal re-embraced his Catholic faith. Lastly, Moreno
also reported that minutes before Rizal was brought to Luneta, he heard Mass,
confessed to Fr. March, received Holy Communion, and kissed the image of the
Blessed Mother. All these acts suggest, and may be considered evidence supporting
the claim, that Rizal died a Catholic.
There is another thing Rizal did that is recorded in many history books and also
confirmed by Moreno. He handed his family members his personal belongings when
they visited him the day before he died. Unfortunately, Moreno did not specify the
person to whom Rizal gave his personal belongings. Specifically, he did not mention
to whom he gave the stove (others say lamp) where Rizal put his Mi Ultimo Adios.
A number of biographies state that Rizal gave it to his sister Trinidad with the
message “there is something inside” (Craig 1913, 240; Guerrero 1971, 480). Moreno
simply wrote that his weeping mother left the chapel carrying “two bundles of several
utensils belonging to her son.” One can easily assume that the stove was one of the
utensils that Teodora Alonzo brought home.

Aside from Federico Moreno’s report, there are other documents in the
collection that can enrich further the narrative of Rizal’s final 24 hours. For instance,
the collection has several newspaper clippings of what happened to him before and
after his death. One is the account of La Voz Española, dated December 26, 1896,
which reports the meeting of the Consejo de Guerra on the trial of Jose Rizal (NAP
Manuscript A-1, Doc.
25). El Diario de Manila has a similar account of this topic and event (NAP
Manuscript A-1, Doc. 26). On the day of his execution, the newspaper La Voz
Española reported what happened in Luneta, and it also printed the text of the
retraction letter that Rizal allegedly signed (NAP Manuscript A-1, Doc. 27). The
Cuerpo collection also has a photograph of Rizal and the members of the execution
squad (NAP Manuscript A-1 [9], Doc. 307). Finally, the collection has a three-page
letter written by Juan Ferrer to a person he simply calls “Apolinario,” dated two
weeks after Rizal died. The writer states that Rizal was very brave during his
execution. He also asks Apolinario to inform his friends in Imus that they will not
stop fighting the Spaniards until Manila is independent. The author claims that he was
tasked to monitor Manila and buy clothes and arms. Moreover, he offers his help to
Apolinario in case he organizes meetings in Vigan. He ends his letter warning
Apolinario not to tell his parents about his involvement in the revolution and that he
accepts that he will be arrested one day (NAP A-12, Doc. 9).
Source: Escalante, R. (2019). Did Jose Rizal die a catholic? Revisiting Rizal’s last 24 hours
using spy reports. Southeast Asian Studies Vol. 3, No. 3. DOI: 10.20495/seas.8.3_369
Learning Activity: Argumentative Discourse

Requirement:
1. In your opinion, do you think that Rizal would retract his statements?
2. Hypothetically, supposed that Dr. Jose Rizal did retract his statements against the
Catholic church and the Spanish government, and you were given the chance to talk to
Jose Rizal, what would you say to him about his retraction?
3. How do you think the history of the Philippines be written if it were true that Rizal
retracted and that he was not executed as a result? Could there had been a revolution?

Lesson 10: Week 11
Convention between the United States of America and

Great Britain Delimiting the Boundary between the
Philippine Archipelago and the State
of North Borneo {1930}
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Learning Objectives
• Analyze the provisions of this convention
• Discuss the matters of delineation between the Philippines and North Borneo
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas a convention between the United States of America and his Majesty the King of
Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, delimiting
definitely the boundary between the Philippine Archipelago (the territory acquired by the United
States of America by virtue of the treaties of December 10, 1898, and November 7, 1900, with
her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain) and the State of North Borneo which is under British
protection, was concluded and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington on the
second day of January, one thousand nine hundred and thirty, the original of which convention is
word as follows:
The President of the United States of America and His Majesty the King of Great Britain,
Ireland and the British, Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India,
December 10, 1898, and November 7, 1900 with Her Majesty Queen Regent of Spain)
and the State of North Borneo which is under British Protection, Have resolve to conclude a
Convention for that purpose and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries:
The President of the United States of America, Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of State of
the United States; and His Majesty the King of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions
beyond the Seas, Emperor of India,
For Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The Right Honorable Sir Esme Howard, G.C.B.,
G.C.M.G., C.V.O., His Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington;
Who, having communicated to each other their respective full powers found a good and
due form have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles:

ARTICLE I
It is hereby agreed and declared that the line separating the islands belonging to the
Philippine Archipelago on the one hand and the islands belonging to the State of North Borneo
which is under British protection on the other hand shall be and is hereby established as follows:
Hence, due north along the meridian of longitude one hundred nineteen degrees east of
Greenwich to its with the parallel of four degrees forty-two minutes north latitude; thence in a
straight line approximately true passing between Little Bakkungaan Island and Great
Bakkungaan Island to the intersection of the parallel of six degrees seventeen minutes north
latitude and the meridian of longitude one hundred seventeen degrees fifty-eight minutes east of
Greenwich; the latter point being on the boundary defined by the Treaty between the United
States of America and Spain signed at Paris, December 10, 1898.
ARTICLE II
The line described above has been indicated on Charts Nos. 4707 and 4720, published by
the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, corrected to July 24, 1929, portions of both
charts so marked being attached to this treaty and made a part thereof. It is agreed that if more
accurate surveying and mapping of North Borneo. The Philippine Islands and intervening
islands shall in the future show that the line described above does not pass between Little
Bakkungaan and Great Bakkungaan Islands, substantially as indicated on Chart No. 4720.
Mangsee Great Reef as indicated on Chart No. 4720, the boundary shall be understood to
be defined in that areas as a straight line drawn from the intersection of the parallel of north
latitude and the meridian of longitude of east Greenwich, passing through Mangsee Channel as
indicated on attached Chart No. 4720 to a point on the parallel of north latitude.
ARTICLE III
All island to the north and east of the said line and all islands and rocks traversed by the
said line, should there be any such, shall belong to the Philippine Archipelago and all islands to
the south and west of the said line shall belong to the State of North Borneo.
ARTICLE IV
North Borneo on the other hand in consequence of the establishment of the line fixed by
the preceding articles of the present Convention. In the event of either High Contracting Party
ceding, selling, leasing, or transferring any of the islands in question to a third party provision
shall be made for the continued application to such island of the aforementioned Article 19 of the
Treaty between the United States of America, the British Empire, France, Italy and Japan
limiting naval armament, signed at Washington on February 6, 1922, provided that Treaty is still
in force at the time of such cession, sale, lease or transfer.
ARTICLE V
The present Convention shall be ratified by the President of the United States of America,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by His Britannic Majesty, and shall
come into force on the exchange of the acts of ratification which shall take place at Washington
as soon as possible.

In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same and have affixed
there to their respective seals. Done in duplicate at Washington the second day of January in the
year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty.
Now, THEREFORE, be it known that I, Herbert Hoover, President of the United States of
America, have caused the said convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every
article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States of
America and citizens thereof.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the
United States of America to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this fifteenth day of December in the year of our Lord one
thousand nine hundred and thirty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the one hundred and fifty-seventh.
HERBERT HOOVER
By the President:
ZENRY L. STIMSON.
Secretary of State
National Territory
{Document No. 19:3}
Source: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1932/12/15/convention-between-the-united-states-of-
america-and-great-britain-delimiting-the-boundary-between-the-philippine-archipelago-and-the-state-of-
north-borneo-1930/
Learning Activity: Discourse

Requirement:
China has been very aggressive in its claim of most parts of the South China Sea or the West
Philippine Sea. How would you use this Convention between the United States of America and
Great Britain Delimiting the Boundary between the Philippine Archipelago and the State of
North Borneo {1930} as a counter evidence of the Philippines in defending its territory and
sovereignty?

Lesson 11: Week 12
Minutes of the Proceedings on the National Territory

of the 1971 Constitutional Convention
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Examine the contents of the minutes of the proceedings on the national territory of the 1971
constitutional convention
• Define national territory
• Justify claims of the Philippines in its territorial jurisdiction
Minutes of the Session

Friday, February 11, 1972
1. At 8 a.m. President Diosdado Macapagal called the session to order.

2. Delegate Fernando Bautista led the singing of the National Anthem.
3. Delegate Benjamin R. Abubakar delivered the invocation.
SUSPENSION OF SESSION
4. The session was suspended at 8:05 a.m.
RESUMPTION OF SESSION
5. The session was resumed at 9:30 a.m.
DECLARATION OF QUOROM
6. Two hundred ninety-eight (298) Delegates were recorded present. The following were recorded
absent.
Delegate Damian Aldaba Delegate Jaime C. Opinion

Delegate Sonia S. Aldeguer Delegate Melchor G. Padua Jr.
Delegate Jose D. Calderon Delegate Rolando C. Piit
Delegate Mary Rose J. Ezpeleta Delegate Gil G. Puyat Jr.
Delegate Carlos Ledesma Delegate Juanito R. Remulla
Delegate Juan A. Lucas Luna Delegate Luis D. Santos
Delegate Jose P. Marcelo Delegate Jose A. Yulo Jr.
Delegate Jacinto Montilla
Upon certification of the secretary, the Chair declared the existence of a quorum.
7. Floor Leader Carlos J. Valdes moved to defer consideration of item on the agenda (continuation
of consideration of committee Report No. 1 of the committee on Preamble and National Identity).
There being no objection, the motion was approved.

8. Floor Leader Valdes recommended that Committee Reports Nos. 1 and 2 of the Committee of the
National Territory be considered, and asked that delegate Eduardo Quintero, Committee
Chairman, be recognized.
8.1 Upon recognition by the chair, Delegate Quintero stated that his committee was sponsoring
the inclusion of the following article on national territory in the new constitution:
ARTICLE 1
The National Territory
SECTION 1. The National Territory of the Philippines shall be the archipelago of the
name, the historic home of the Filipino people from its beginnings, whose boundaries are set
forth in article III of the Treaty of Paris concluded between the United States and Spain on the
tenth day of December, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, together with all the islands embraced
in the treaty concluded at Washington between the United States and Spain on the seventh day of
November, nineteen hundred, and in the convention concluded between the United States and
Great Britain on the second day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty, and all other territories
over which the Government of the Philippines has been exercising jurisdiction or over which it
has a right.
SECTION 2. All the waters around, between and connecting the various islands of the
Philippines archipelago, irrespective of their widths or dimensions, are considered necessary
appurtenances of the Land territory, forming part of the inland or internal waters of the
Philippines.
SECTION 3. All the waters beyond the outermost islands of archipelago within the
boundaries set forth in the treaties and convention mentioned in section one hereof comprises the
territorial sea of the Philippines.
SECTION 4. The sovereignty of the Philippines extends, beyond its land territory and its
internal waters, to a belt adjacent to its coast, described as the territorial sea. Said sovereignty also
extends over the air space above its land areas, its internal waters and territorial sea as to its land
areas, its seabed and subsoil.
SECTION 5. The National Assembly shall define the control that the Philippines will
exercise in the contiguous zone and in the superjacent waters of the continental shelf.
He suggested that the panel of sponsors first be allowed to present the stand of the committee
before interpellations were entertained.
9. The session was suspended at 9:50 a.m.
RESUMPTI OF SESSION
10. The session was resumed at 9:53 a.m.
11. Delegate Quintero proceeded to define the following terms: archipelago, high seas, territorial sea
and inland waters.
12. Delegate Custodio A. Villalva pointed out the erroneous technical description of Philippines
territory in article III of the Treaty of Paris of December 10, 1898 which was adopted in article I
of the present constitution. He stated that the treaty fixed the northern boundary along the 20th

north latitude, thus excluding Batanes. Citing historical facts, he said that Batanes has been a part
of the

Philippines since the Spanish and American regimes. He then recommended the approval of
section
1 of the committee report.
12.1 Delegate E. Voltaire Garcia II suggested the deletion of the article, arguing that international
laws should govern delimitation of the national territory.
ADJOURNMENT OF SESSION
13. Upon motion floor Leader Valdes, the session was adjourned until 9 a.m. the following day.
It was 10:58 a.m.
I hereby certify to the correctness of the foregoing.

(Sgd.) JOSE V. ABUEVA
Secretary
FLOOR LEADERS:
HON. ESTANISLAO A. FERNANDEZ

HON. FIDEL P. PURISIMA
HON. CARLOS J. VALDES
Minutes of the session

February 17, 1972
****
8. Floor Leader Garcia (J.) announced the next item on the agenda (consideration of the revised draft
article on national territory), and asked that delegate Eduardo Quintero, Chairman of the Committee on
National Territory, be recognized.
8.1 Upon recognition by the Chair, Delegate Quintero presented the revised draft article and read the
names of authors of various amendments incorporated therein. He then moved for its approval, reading as
follows:
ARTICLE 1
The National Territory
THE NATIONAL TERRITORY CONSISTS OF THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO, WHICH IS THE

ANCESTRAL HOME OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE, AND WHICH IS COMPOSED OF ALL THE
ISLANDS AND WATERS EMBRACED THEREIN, AND ALL OTHER TERRITORIES BELONGING
TO THE PHILIPPINES BY HISTORIC RIGHT OR LEGAL TITLE INCLUDING THE TERRITORIAL
SEA, THE AIR SPACE, THE SUBSOIL, THE SEA-BED, THE CONTINENTAL SHELF AND OTHER
SUBMARINE AREAS OVER WHICH THE PHILIPPINES HAS SOVEREIGNTY OR
JURISDICTION. THE WATERS AROUND, BETWEEN AND CONNECTING THE ISLANDS OF
THE ARCHIPELAGO, IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR BREADTH AND DIMENSIONS, FORM PART
OF THE INTERNAL WATERS OF THE PHILIPPINES.
8.2 Interpolating, Delegate Felixberto M. Serrano suggested that CONSISTS in Line 1 called for an
enumeration, and that WATERS AROUND in Line 11 was ambiguous. Delegate Quintero explained that
the points brought up could be taken care of by the Committee on style.

8.3 Delegate Emmannuel T. Santos explained that the continental shelf, continental slope, and
continental rise would constitute the continental margin implied in the term OTHER SUBMARINE
AREAS in Line 9.
8.4 Delegate Pedro G. Exmundo inquired if HISTORIC RIGHT in Line 6 referred to all the territories
ceded by Spain to the United State under the Treaty of Paris. Delegate Quintero replied on the affirmative.
8.5 Delegate Anacleto D. Badoy Jr. observed that the word BELONGING would not provide for future
territorial acquisitions, and suggested the phrase ALL WATERS WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL
BOUNDARIES instead of ‘’waters around’’ in Line 11. Delegate Quintero replied that the Committee on
style could consider the matter.
8.6 Noting the absence of an explanatory note to the revised draft, Delegate Antonio R. Tupaz moved that
the records of the Committee proceedings during revision of the draft be included in the journal. The
Chair suggested that the motion be made at the proper time. Delegate Tupaz (A.) obliged.
8.7 Delegate Pedro O. Valdez asked if the words SUBSOIL and SEA-BED included mineral and marine
resources. Speaking in behalf of the Committee, Delegate Justino P. Hermoso replied in the affirmative.
8.8 Delegate Midpantao L. Adil observed that the Sulu archipelago should be properly defined in the
article.
8.9 Delegate Manuel A. Concordia inquired if the revised draft implied the acquisition of territory through
purchase. Delegate Quintero replied in the affirmative.
8.10 Delegate Roseller T. lim proposed that the term PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO be legally defined in
the article. Delegate Quintero explained that the Committee had decided to avoid any mention of treaties
between powers which colonized the Philippines.
8.11 Delegate Rebeck Espiritu suggested that national territory be defined simply in terms of land,
interval waters, and territorial sea to avoid redundancy. Delegate Hermoso explained that the definition
was comprehensive in order to emphasize the multi-dimensional nature of the territory.
8.12 Delegate Victor de la Serna inquired if BELONGING TO THE PHILIPPINES BY HISTORIC

RIGHT OR LEGAL TITLE in lines 5 and 6, implied that the country was already asserting its
sovereignty over disputed territories. Delegate Quintero replied in the negative.
9. Delegate Samuel C. Occeña moved for the previous question. Submitted to a vote, the motion was
approved, 119 to 4.
10. Delegate Rogelio E. panotes inquired if the draft was still open to perfecting amendments. The Chair
was replied in the negative.
10.1 Citing Section 7, Rule V, Part III of the Rules, Delegate Panotes pointed out that amendments were
in order after the main debate. The Chair ruled that a motion for the previous question could be made at
any time, and that once approved, such motion would end debate.
11. Delegate Rodolfo A. Ortiz requested that his remarks on the draft be inserted in the journal of the
Convention. The request was granted.
12. Delegate Badoy moved for reconsideration of the vote on the motion for the previous question.
Submitted to a vote, the motion was lost, 49 to 80.
13. Delegate Padua (C.) requested that his interpretation of the territorial sea be inserted in the Journal.
The request was granted.
13.1. Rising on a point of order, Delegate Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said that the body should be informed of
the nature of documents being made part of the Journal. Whereupon, the Chair asked Delegate Padua (C.)
to withdraw his request temporarily. Delegate Padua (C.) obliged.
13.2. Delegate Quintero commented that the Padua (C.) interpretation differed from that of the
Committee.
14. Delegate Ernesto R. Rondon pointed out that voting on the draft before amendments were
discussed on the floor would be irregular. The Chair replied that the Committee had already
considered amendments and that a motion for the previous question had been approved.
14.1. Delegate Rondon appealed from the ruling of the Chair. Submitted to a vote, the appeal
was lost.
15. Delegate Panotes inquired what would happen to the draft if it were rejected by the body.
The
Chair replied that the matter could be taken up at the proper time.
16. Upon direction by the Chair, the Secretary read the draft of Article I for voting. It was
approved,
177 to 14.
17. The session was suspended at 5:29 p.m.
18. The session was resumed at 5:44 p.m.
19. Delegate Tupaz (A.) moved that the minutes of the Committee deliberations on the draft be
inserted in the Journal. There being no objection, the motion was approved.
20. Delegate Padua (C.) reiterated his request that his discussion on the territorial sea be inserted
in the Journal. It was granted.
21. Delegate Raul S. Roco, Chairman of the Committee on Declaration of principles and
Ideologies, asked that his statements in reply to newspaper criticism of the draft article on the
declaration of principles be inserted in the Journal. The request was granted.
22. Delegate Lim (R.) moved to suspend the Rules, and asked that he be allowed to explain his
motion.

25. Delegate Lim (R.) explained that Rules on the presentation of motions for the previous
question needed amendment so that such motions could not be used to cut debates short. He
pointed out

that the presentation of amendments on the floor was vital and should not be disregard merely to
expedite proceedings.
25.1. Delegate Natalio B. Bacalso suggested that motions for the previous question be presented
only after all amendments were disposed of.
25.2. The Chair declared that the observations of Delegates Lim (R.) and Bacalso would be
referred to the Committee on Legal Affairs for proper action.
26. Delegate Augusto T. Kalaw suggested that nominal voting should be held on the second
reading of constitutional proposals since it was more crucial that the vote on third reading.
26.1. The Chair stated that the Rules made nominal voting mandatory on third reading, but
discretionary on second reading.
26.2. Delegate Kalaw requested that his observations on nominal voting he referred to the
Committee on Legal Affairs. The request was granted.
27. Delegate Jose Y. Feria moved for reconsideration of the approval of the draft article on
national territory.
28. The session was suspended at 6:29 p.m.
30. Delegate Feria withdraw his motion.
31. Delegate Ramon A. Diaz, Chairman of the Steering Council, presented the draft article on
civil service, as prepared by the Committee on Civil Service and consolidated by the Council,
and asked that Delegate Numeriano . Tanopo Jr., Chairman of the Committee on Civil Service,
be recognize for sponsor the draft.
31.1. Delegate Tanopo submitted for consideration and approval the draft article on civil service.
He stated that Delegate Alfredo J. Lagamon would be the first sponsor.
31.2. Deploring the state of the civil servi, Delegate Lagamon stressed the need to upgrade it
through the proposals recommended by the Committee. He emphasized that the civil sevice must
meet the demands of the time.
ADJOURNMENT OF SESSION
32. Upon motion of Floor Leader Garcia (J.) the session was adjourned until 8 a.m. the following
day.
It was 7 p.m.

I hereby certify to the correctness of the foregoing.
(Sgd.) JOSE V. ABUEVA

Secretary
FLOOR LEADERS:
HON. EDMUNDO B. CEA
HON. JESUS GARCIA
HON. ANTONIO D. OLMEDO
Source: 1971 Constitutional Convention Records: Records of the Session, Vol. VI, February
1972
Learning Activity:
Requirement:
1. How did the 1972 constitutional convention finally define national territory?
2. Can we use this document to argue the claim of rights of the Philippines over
the islands being claimed by China? Why or why not?

Lesson 12—Week 13
The Role of Islam in the History of the Filipino People

Cesar Adib Majul
• Recall the historical background of Moslem people in the Philippines
• Describe the development of Islam in the southern part of the Philippines
• Characterize a unique historiography of Islam in the Philippines
• Contrast Moslem historiography from the usual church-oriented writing of history
Facts demonstrate that Islamic influences from Borneo and Sulu were beginning to shed
root in Luzon during the first half of the sixteenth century. Not long after, Islam was being
strengthened in Mindanao from Sulu as well as from the Moluccas.
The spread of Islam in the Malaysian Archipelago is indeed a legitimate field of inquiry;
but such a complex phenomenon must not be looked at as a mere spread of a few theological
principles or religious beliefs and rituals made possible by a handful of enthusiastic missionaries.
The spread of Islam had represented an interplay of political, economic, psychological and social
causes and factors together with their ideological concomitants. Furthermore, the attractive
characteristics of Islam as such, as well as its ability to satisfy new needs brought about by rapid
economic changes due to the nature of the international trade at that time, must also be
considered.
The First stage. The first stage represents the conception of Malaysia as a constellation
of sultanates and principalities exemplifying different stages in Islamization. It covers the period
from the end of the 13th century to the end of the 15th century.
This stage portrays sultans, port- kings, minor chieftains, etc., participating in various
degrees and intensities in the international trade from the Red Sea to the China Sea, a trade that
was under the control of Moslem traders, principally Arabs, Indians and Persians. Many of the
Malaysian ports served as sources of articles of trade and as clearing houses. A more direct
participation of Sulu in this international trade can be traced to the arrival of Arab traders around
the end of the ninth century or the beginning of the tenth century, not long after they were ousted
from the China trade in 878 during the T’ang dynasty. After a prohibitive policy of the Chinese
against Arab and other Moslem traders, Kalah in the Malay Archipelago became for some time
the last port of call for them. However, due to the persistent demand for Chinese products in
Arab lands either for domestic use or re exportation to other lands in the Mediterranean, the Arab
traders made efforts to get a Chinese product. It was then that they learned or discovered a new
route starting from Borneo then passing through Sulu, Palawan, Luzon, up to Formosa and the

South of Japan where Chinese products were available. Even after the middle of the tenth
century during

the Sung Dynasty, when the Moslem traders were allowed once more to frequent the ports of
South China and the old route through the coast of Indochina began to be utilized again, the new
route was still used since the traders became acquainted either with new products or better
sources of old products. However, it is clear that the use of this new or second route does not
necessarily imply the Islamization of either Borneo or Sulu.
It only suggests that the presence of Moslem traders in Sulu and, therefore, its more
direct participation in the international trade. Sulu had started to become a clearing house for
products which its intrepid sailors brought from the more outlying islands.
The following are important phases of the first stage:
a. The coming to Sulu of Arab traders, who performed missionary activities during the end
of 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century. At this time there is evidence of trading
colony in Sulu consisting at least of transient Moslem traders. This is the phase of the coming of
the Makhdumin (Arabic Singular: makdum). The first seeds of Islam were sowed by them
b. Increasing participation of Chinese traders in the Sulu trade. Traditional accounts claim
that Chinese Moslem traders had accompanied or competed with Arab traders. Eventually,
competition and other factors made the Chinese displace Arab traders in the second route.
c. The coming of Sumatran Islamic influences and political institutions during the end of the
fourteenth century. This phase is represented in the Sulu tarsilas by the coming of Rajah
Baguinda
Ali with ministers and soldiers who arrived in Sulu and established a
principality.
d. Sulu’s official contacts with the Celestial throne 1417-1424. At least three “tributes”
were
sent.
e. The establishment of the sultanate in Sulu around the middle of the fifteenth century
under the Sherif Abu Bakr, an Arab who had travelled extensively in Malaysia. The
establishment of the sultanate assumes that a great number of the coastal inhabitants of Sulu had
become Moslems and therefore responsive to such as Islamic institution. It also shows their
acquaintance with some Islamic jurisprudential elements especially those which asserted the
right of an Arab. More specially a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, to rule non-Arab
Moslems. The Sheriff Abu Bakr initiated attempts to convert the inhabitants of the interior of
Sulu (Buranuns) and is believed to have been successful. The coastal peoples and those of the
interior of Sulu became slowly integrated into a political community under a central authority.
f. The coming of Islam to the Cotabato basin and its consequent spread to the Lanao area
during the end of fifteenth century. This is signified in the Mindanao tarsilas by the coming of
the Sherif Mohammed Kabungsuwan,an Arab- Malay from Malaya, as well as a couple of Arab
predecessors claimed to have been also sheriffs and of which one returned to Sumatra.
g. The increase of Islamic influences in Sulu and Mindanao through greater maritime
contacts with Malacca, Java and Borneo, and the occasional visits of Moslem traders and
missionaries from Arab and Indian lands.
The second stage. The second stage represents the coming of Western European
Imperialism and Colonialization during the 16th and 17th centuries to Malaysia. This stage
represents the destruction of the Arab and /or Moslem monopoly of the international trade in
Southeast Asia as a consequence of the coming of the Portuguese and the defeat of Arab fleets in
Socotra (1507), Diu (1513), etc. The Portuguese and Spaniards came in the sixteenth century not
only to extend the possessions of their sovereigns but to spread Catholicism.
In the same manner that they had the consciousness of coming from Christian lands and h
ad a religious mission, the Moslems and Malaysia had a consciousness of their Islamic faith and
o f the integrity of dar-ul-Islam. It would be a fallacy to maintain that on account of the different
st ages of Islamization in the various parts of Malaysia there was no such conception. Actually,
by t his time Islam was well rooted in Acheh, Malacca, parts of Java, Brunei and Sulu. From a
very i mportant point of view, Islam constituted the only ideology that resisted and combatted
Western I mperialism and Colonialism, and Christianity. Early Portuguese and Spanish authors
had looked at their arrival in Malaysia as the continuance of the Crusader’s war between
Christians and Mosl ems. It will be recalled that the fall of Malacca in1511 was less than two
decades after the fall of t he Moorish kingdom in Granada. The Turkish menace to Europe had
also increased after their co nquest of Constantinople, while the coming of the Portuguese to
Malaysia had followed their war s in North Africa against the Moslems.
The important phases of the second stage can be summarized as follows:
a. The coming of the Portuguese and their disruption of the Moslem international trade
control. The fall of Malacca to them in 1511, with the consequence that the center of power of
Malaysian Moslems shifted from Malacca to Acheh on northern Sumatra. Dutch commercial
interests in Java and other parts of the East Indies in the 1590’s.
b. The coming of Christian Religious and economic threat brought about a deliberate
attempts at Islamic missionary activities on the uncommitted parts of Malaysia who were either
Hindu, pagan, etc. This time the missionary activities were initiated by Malaysian themselves,
principally Javanese, accompanied occasionally by Arab zealots. Many port kings became
Moslems: Ambon 1515, Banjarmasin 1520, Mataram 1525, Bantam 1527, Sambas, Bima, and
Macassar in 1600, etc.
c. The rise of Brunei as a commercial power, its dynastic alliances with Sulu, and its
greater participation in the trade of the Philippine Archipelago. By the second half of the
sixteenth century, Manila was already ruled by members of the Bornean aristocracy. This
signified the beginning of the Islamization of the area around Manila Bay. Beginnings of
Bornean missionary activities in Batangas and other part of the Philippines during the last quarter
of the sixteenth century.
d. By the last quarter of the sixteenth century, there began a greater consolidation of the
possessions of the Sulu sultan from the northeastern part of Borneo to parts of Zamboanga,
including the islands of Taguima (Basilan) and Tawi-Tawi.
e. At the same time the consolidation of the “sultanates” of Maguindanao and Buayan is
begun. Dynastic relations between them as well as with the Moluccas, principally Ternate.
Coming
of Moslem missionaries and functionaries from Ternate to Mindanao.
f. Fall of Manila as a Moslem principally in 1571.Spanish attacks on Brunei in 1578 and
1581 and first attack on Sulu in 1578.Treaty between the Sulu Sultan and Spaniards on June 14,
1578.
g. Conflicts between Spaniards and Magindanaos in 1579, 1596, etc. Spanish attempts to
colonize Mindanao. At this point a study of Bertram Schrieke’s theory that the spread of Islam in
Malaysia was accelerated by the coming of Western powers is imperative.

h. Spanish expeditions to the Moluccas: 1982, 1585, 1593 and 1603. The expeditions can
be interpreted not only as attempts to check Dutch ambitions in the area or to extend Spanish
territories but also as attempts to isolate Moslems in the Philippine Archipelago and cut off
sources of human and material aid to them from the Moluccas. Conversely, the temporary
neutralization of the Magindanaos was sought to facilitate the conquest of the Moluccas.
The third stage. The third stage represents the gradual fragmentation of the Malaysian
dar-ul-Islam under the spheres of different colonial powers. It is a stage of great resistance and
counterattacks against the West which were mainly unsuccessful. The rise of Acheh as a great
Moslem power failed to dislodge the Portuguese in Malacca. Javanese resistance against the
Dutch commercial ambitions had weakened. Brunei’s eclipse as a commercial power had begun.
Brunei’s missionary activities in Batangas, etc. had ceased. The fall of Luzon and the Visayas to
the Spaniards and the destruction of Moslem pockets of resistance in Mindoro and other island
islands signifies that the northeast expansion of Islam to the furthest end of the Malaysian
Archipelago had been checked. Islam’s furthest limit would then be in its outposts in Sulu and in
Mindanao.
The following phases are important:
a. The contest for the control of Luzon and the Visayas between the Spaniards and the
Moslems. This refers to at least two events: The first represents the 1589 attempts at alliance
between the Brunei,Sulu and Magindanao sultanates with the disgruntled aristocracy of Manila
and Tondo ( now under Spanish rule) to dislodge Spaniards from the Philippine Archipelago.
Desperate attempts to get Japanese help did not materialize. Significance of the Magat Salamat
Conspiracy. The second event refers to the so-called piratical raids initiated by the Magindanaos
with Sulu and ternate help from 1599 to 1603. Blood compact between Magindanaos under
Buisan and Leyte datus against Spain. Failure of the ultimate aim of such large-scale raids.
b. The decline of the “sultanate” of Buayan around 1619 in favor of the Magindanao
sultanate under the redoubtable Sultan Dipatuan Kuderat whose powers extended up to the
Maranao regions. Cagayan de Oro become tributary to him in 1622 and Selangani in 1626.
Kuderat’s assumption of the title of Sultan. After his death in 1671 the decline of the
Magindanao sultanate began and slowly broke up into various minor sultanates. Spanish
presence in Mindanao frustrated the natural course of events for the gradual integration of
various minor Moslem principalities under one centralized authority.
c. Spanish conquest of the Moluccas in 1606 cut off aid to the Moslems of the Philippines
from the farther south. Further isolation of Moslems in the Philippines. Sulu and Magindanao
sought for Dutch alliance in 1614.Increase of Moslem raids in 1616, 1625, etc.
d. The system of divide and rule of the Western colonial powers. Sultanates and
principalities made to fight each other. In the Philippines, Christianized natives made to fight
Moslems as well as to extend Spanish possessions. Spaniards persistently tried to foster
dissensions between Buayan and Magindanao. Nevertheless, dynastic or commercial
rivalries
between Western powers at home and abroad brought to Malaysia. This explains Dutch aid to
Sulu, Magindanao, and Ternate Moslems in their resistance against Spanish rule. The eventual
frustration of Dutch ambitions in the Philippines also implied further dependence of Moslem in
the Philippines on their own resources. Establishment of Spanish fort in Zamboanga in
1635.Continued raids on Spanish held territories by Moslem alliances.

e. The expeditions of Governor General Corcuera to Mindanao in 1637 and Sulu in 1638.
Lanao expedition of 1639.The temporary character of Spanish victories. Fall of Jolo on January
4,
1638.Transfer of Sultan’s capital to Tawi-Tawi in 1639.The long rule of Sultan Muwallil Wasit I
(Rajah Bongsu) from around 1614 to 1648. His alliances with Macassar in 1638. Alliances with
the Dutch in 1644. Treaty between Spain and Sulu on April 14, 1646. The evacuation of
Zamboanga in 1662. The Sulu and Magindanao sultans as independent as before.
f. The inability of Sulu to expand or extract tribute from up North led it to look further
westward in the Island of Borneo for its tributary expansion. On account of intervention in
Brunei’s dynastic wars, the Sulu Sultan’s territories in Borneo extended further West to the
Kimanis river in North Borneo around 1690.By the end of the seventeenth century during the
reign of Sahab-ud- Din, the power of the Sulu sultan extended from parts of Zamboanga to the
Kimanis river in the northern part of the Islands of Borneo.
The fourth stage. The fourth stage refers to the attempts of the Sulus to regain part of
their former glory during the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. Around 1700 there
were dynastic quarrels between Sulu and Maguindanao and the Sulus tried to exercise some
domination over the Cotabato and Zamboanga regions. During this state there were strong
attempts on the part of the Moslem sultanates to recapture their ancient commercial glory. The
English tried to have a foothold in Sulu territory to exercise greater hold on their China trade A
few salient events are listed below:
a. A modest resumption of Sulu trade with China initiated during the reign of the Sultan
Sahabud- Din around 1700. Badar-Din its missions to China in 1726 and 1727.
b. Attempts to Badar-ud-Din I for peaceful commercial relations with Manila. Treaty of
December 19, 1726.
c. The so- called piratical raids during this time and earlier can be interpreted as a source of
income to make up for the loss of participation in the international trade and the former trade
with China. The raids were also meant to weaken Spanish resources which were used to subject
the Moslems. Of importance too was that they were also intended to intimidate Christian natives
used by Spaniards to conquer the Moslems. Moslem attack on Palawan, the Calamianes, etc.,
under Datu Sabdula (Nasar-ud-Din) in the 1730’s. The significance of these attacks is that they
partially satisfied the expectations of the Sulus for strong leadership during a time when there
was a dynastic rivalry for the sultanate.
d. The difference of character and rule of the two brothers A’zim-ud-Din I (1735-1748) and
Muiz-ud-Din (1748-1763). The former believed that he could keep his throne and help Sulu with
friendly relations with Spain and by the granting of concessions to Spaniards. Accepting the fact
of the meager resources of the Sulu and their relative isolation from other Moslem principalities
now under the domination of other Western powers A’zim-ud-Din I believed that Sulu’s
progress could be the result of the strengthening of the institution of the sultanate and other
Islamic institutions together with commercial and political relations with Spain and other lands.
His attempts at commercial relations with China. His “tribute” to China in 1743, Muiz-ud-Din
(Datu Bantilan), on the other hand, believed that such independence could be maintained by the
closer relations with English who could be considered as sources of material aid against
persistent Spanish aims at domination. He even toyed with the idea of contacting the Ottoman
sultan at Istanbul for possible aid to help maintain Sulu’s independence. Bantilan’s conception of
dar-ul- Islam though relatively of place at that time reflects his Islamic consciousness. In 1754,
he almost

asked for Chinese protection. Muiz-ud-Din reign witnessed an increaser of Moro depredations on
the Bicol Regions, Mindoro, the Manila areas etc.
e. Relative peaceful relations between Sulu and Spain from the reign of Sultan
Muhammad
Israel (1774-1778) to Sultan Sharef-ud-Din (1791-1808). Modest commercial prosperity for
Sulu.
The decline of the sultanates. The decline already manifested earlier becomes more
manifestly rapid by the middle of the nineteenth century onwards. Badar-ud-Din’s earlier failure
to capture Zamboanga in 1719 not long after its refortification by the Spaniards revealed Sulu’s
weakness. Badar-ud-Din’s alliance with the Maguindanao and negotiations to patch divisive
elements between Sulu’s and Maguindanaos around 1720 to make another try at Zamboanga was
not very effective. Greater pressures from Spaniards to assert their sovereignty in Sulu. Sulu was
then being pushed into the vortex of conflicting and rival ambitions of Western powers which
spelled doom to its independent existence as a small principality that had ceased to have place in
a rapidly changing world condition. A few of the significant events are as follows:
a. The commercial ambitions of the English exemplified in the cession of Balambagan
and the first cession of the North Borneo territories of the Sulu Sultan to them in the 1760’s.
Destruction of Balambangan in 1775 by the Sulu’s under the leadership of the royal datu Teteng.
French commercial ambitions shown by their desire to purchase the Island of Basilan from
Sultan Pulalun (1842-1862) in 1844 and 1845.
b. Spanish use of steam war vessels in 1848 enabled them to gradually gain mastery of
the Sulu Sea. The destruction of the power of the Balangingi Samals and forcible deportation of
survivors in 1848 by the Spaniards.
c. Spanish expedition to Davao in 1848. Oyanguren versus the Sulu Datu Bago
d. The visit of James Brooke, the British consul general at Borneo and governor of
Labuan, to Sulu in 1849. The inking of the political and commercial pact between Great Britain
and Sulu (although never confirmed) revealed the attempts of Sulu to play one European power
against another. Fear of rival Western powers in Sulu alarmed the Spaniards who now desire
more than ever to subjugate Sulu.
e. Spanish fear and reaction to the ambitions of British and French as well as the
persistence of piratical raids culminated in the Spanish expeditions against Sulu and the capture
of Julu in 1851 under the leadership of Governor General Urbiztondo.Treaty with the Sulus on
April
30, 1851. Sulu’s interpreted the treaty as one of the friendly relations while Spaniards considered
it Sulu’s acceptance of Spanish sovereignty.
f. The Spanish expeditions of 1876 and capture of Jolo. Establishment of a permanent
outpost in Jolo. The January 1878 cession of Sulu’s North Borneo possession to a British
company by the Sulu Sultan. Treaty of July 26, 1878 with the Spaniards. Extension of Spanish
power to the other Islands. Spanish intervention in Sulu affairs even in dynastic quarrel, etc.
Rule of Jamal-ul- A’zam (1862-1881).
g. The rise of the juramentados . Significance of such an event is that organized
resistance under the Sultan had failed. Responsibility for the integrity of dar-ul-Islam had
become an individual one.
h. Change of official Spanish policy: the transformation of the Moslems in the
Philippine
Archipelago into loyal Spanish subjects rather that converting them into Catholicism.
i. The 1885 Protocol; between Great Britain, Spain and Germany agreed that Sulu
belonged
Torrentira,toReadings
the Spanish sphereHistory
in Philippine of sovereignty. 76 | P a g e
j. The 1891 Weyler Campaign in Cotabato. The 1895 Blanco’s campaign in Lanao. The
juramentado institution among the Magindanaos.
The Philippine Revolution and the American Occupation.
a. The leaders of the revolution considered the Moslems of the South as Filipinos bound
with them by racial ties, ancient historical relations, and geographical propinquity. The manifesto
of the Hong Kong Junta in 1893 declared that the Filipinos were made to fight in the Moros in
Mindanao and Sulu who “in reality are brothers, like us fighting or their independence.”
Aguinaldo’s message to the Congress on January 1, 1899 proposed that the Government be
empowered to “negotiate with the Moros of Jolo and Mindanao for purposes of establishing
national solidarity upon the basis of a real federation with absolute respect for their beliefs and
traditions.”
b. The Bates Treaty with the Sulu Sultan in 1899.
c. The defeat of sporadic rising against American Occupation and the futility of the
battles of Bud Bajo (1906) and Bud Bagsak (1913).
d. Sultan Jamal-ul-Kiram’s formal abdication of political power in 1915 (Carpenters
agreement). Moslem representation in the Philippine Government.
e. The role of the Moro resistance against the Japanese Occupation.
f. The independence of the Philippine on July 4.1946. All Filipino Moslems with rights of
Citizenship. Their responsibility in building the National community and the responsibility of
others towards them. The increased secularization of Philippine society.
Anyone with some acquaintance with the history of events in Sulu and Mindanao will easily
noticed the incomplete character of the above outline. Actually, there has been no intention
comprehensiveness. It is hoped that most of the most important events were included. However,
to one desiring to avoid a purely chronological narration, these events can only be significant in
terms on the social and political institutions of the Moslem of the South as well as the economic
structure of their society. It is indispensable to possess a good background of classical Islamic
beliefs, practices, and institutions over and above a knowledge of those indigenous or Pre-
Islamic elements shared by the Moslems of the Philippines with the other Malaysian peoples.
With such a background it is possible to appreciate the results of the impact of Islam on such
indigenous elements. For example, the juramentado upsurge in the 1880’s cannot be fully
understood except with the knowledge of the Sultan’s failure to prevent a non-Moslem power
from controlling a land asserted to have been part of dar-ul-Islam . That the responsibility for the
defense of such a territory had shifted from a duly constituted authority to that of an individual is
only significant if elements of Islamic jurisprudence are considered. Likewise, the General lack
of Sulu adherence to treaties entered between their Sultan and Spanish Authorities can be better
understood in terms of the relations between the Sultan and the datus or traditional chiefs. This in
turn requires knowledge of Sulu traditions regarding the coming of the Sherif-ul-Hashim, reputed
to have established himself as first sultan of Sulu, his commitments with the datus, the principles
of dynastic succession, the division of territorial authority, etc.
Moreover, the dynastic relations between the different sultans in Mindanao and their
claims to rule and exact tribute are to some extent based on appeals to Islamic law and traditions.
For the first two stages in the outline there must be further recourse to the additional local
tarsilas other

than those already published. One must also be continually alert to tarsilas that are slowly
coming to light from Borneo and Indonesian Islands from the south of Mindanao. However, it is
imperative to develop a technique to evaluate such tarsilas in order to render them of historical
value. A comparative study of the local tarsilas is essential, and a great deal of some of them can
be checked against Spanish, English and Dutch sources. The value of some tarsilas, especially
those that present an enumeration of the sultans of Sulu, is that they do not only reveal the most
salient characteristics of the personality of the sultans but also what the Sulus considered the
most important historical event of their reign. Negatively speaking, the differences among
tarsilas, relative to certain omissions, reveal dynastic rivalries and even certain Sulu models for
dynastic successions. But further research into the primary sources in the Spanish, British and
Dutch Archives is indispensable. However, without the virtue of tolerance and the ability to
emancipate oneself from unexamined premises, historical empathy for the struggles of Moslems
in the South, and uncompromising desire to understand, nothing can be accomplished.
The history of the Moslems in the Philippine South and the lives of their sultans are not
devoid of an epic character. That a great deal of cruelty, tears and suffering have followed the
wake of their depredations and persistent struggle against aims to conquer them is not to be
denied; but these are merely responses to similar inflictions upon them. In all life-and-death
struggles, no contestant has a monopoly of virtue or vise. Yet the foe had observed the invariant
bravery, stoicism in defeat, and in general, magnanimity in the moment of Moslem victory.
What had not been easily conceded to them is that such behavior could have stemmed from their
basic Islamic belief, that there is universal prescription for behavior and that man ought to try to
approximate it. Indeed, in the further search for national identity one of our largest minorities in
the Philippines can contribute a great deal.
Source: https://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-04-02-1966/majul-islam-history-filipino-people.pdf
Learning Activity: Video analysis

Watch the video in the Youtube by clicking or copying the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKckHIXKZKc or you may scan the QR code below using your
android or IOS phone to get access to the video immediately.
Requirement: What is your reaction on the statement below?

According to John Leddy Phelan, “were it not for the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines for 333 years, the country, would have been a Muslim State like its Southeast Asian
neighbors.”

Lesson 13: Week 14
History of Terrorism in the Philippines

(An International Fact-Finding Mission Report)
Learning Objectives

• Describe the emergence of insurgency and terrorism in the Philippines
• Associate terrorism with cultural and religious aspects
• Explore the various initiatives of the Philippine government to counter terrorism and
address insurgency
General context
Located in South East Asia, the Republic of the Philippines comprises 7,107 islands
which are commonly divided in three groups: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The capital city,
Manila, is located in Luzon.
The Philippines is the 12th most populated country in the world with 96 million
inhabitants. It is also the 4th largest Catholic nation with about 80% of Christians, whereas
Muslims form a minority throughout the country (approximately 5%). The rest of the population
is made up mostly of smaller Christian denominations as well as indigenous people, part of
which are animists.
Before its independence in 1946, the country was successively dominated by Spain (16 th
th
to 19 century) and by the United States of America (1898-1946).
Before Spanish colonization, part of the inhabitants were animists while part were
Muslims as a result of trade with the Arabs. Spanish colonization imposed Christianity upon the
country, and the Muslims were called Moros.6 Today, Bangsamoro (“the Moro People”) are
mainly settled in the Southern islands of Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Palawan.
They were never colonized neither by Spain, nor by the USA – which introduced a system of
government that was criticized for leading to the “minorization and marginalization” of the
Moros and indigenous people in Mindanao.7 The ancestral domain of Moros and indigenous
people was declared as public land; this is an issue still bearing consequences today, the
indigenous people’s claims for ancestral domains being still not recognized.
When independence was declared on July 4, 1946 and the Republic of the Philippines
was established, it comprised Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The Moros reiterated their
objections but Mindanao was nevertheless incorporated under the Republic. From the
independence onwards, Muslims and indigenous people have been complaining that they are
marginalized politically and economically, except for a few rich families.
The Philippines counts natural resources comprising oil, timber, nickel, cobalt, silver,
gold… In addition, its soil is rich and fertile. But land tenure has been – and still is – a
controversial
issue across history. About half of the population is rural and agriculture is the primary and often
only source of income for rural poor people, whereas important land is owned by powerful
landlords. An agrarian reform is ongoing and should end in 2008, but concrete implementation is
extremely protracted because of landowners’ resistance and this generates frequent tensions.
The communists (CPP, NPA and NDFP)
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was re-established8 in 1968 by Jose Maria
Sison, a professor at the University of the Philippines. CPP adopted a strategy based on the
struggle for national democracy through a two-stage revolution: a protracted people’s war to be
followed by a Socialist Revolution. One year later, the New People’s Army (NPA) was
organized as the guerilla-military wing of the Party, to wage a peasant-worker revolutionary war
in the countryside against landlords and foreign companies. CPP heads the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which is the political-diplomatic arm of CPP-
NPA. It is estimated that the guerrilla army of CPP now consists of about 10,000 persons.
CPP-NPA has been labelled as a terrorist organization by the US Government and by the
European Unionvv(EU) Council. The Philippine government has not made a formal decision
classifying CPP-NPA as a terrorist group but it openly considers it as such.
CPP-NPA-NDFP sees itself as a broad political, revolutionary and liberation movement
and claims that it does not attack civilian targets and that it adheres to international law. NPA
nevertheless claimed responsibility for the assassination of two congressmen in May 2001 whom
it considered as “legitimate targets.”
Former CPP chair Rodolfo SALAS acknowledged that in the 1980s, internal purge of
persons suspected to be government and army infiltrators within CPP resulted in torture and
execution of about 1,800 cadres and civilians.14 This fact is still used by the government and by
the army to attribute the responsibility of current extrajudicial killings to CPP.
Peace efforts to end the armed conflict between the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines and NDFP have been going on for 21 years but stalled in 2004. On June 16, 2006 the
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared an all-out war against NPA. However, on
September
5, 2007, she signed
– conditional to the respect of certain criteria – an Amnesty Proclamation, to become effective
only after Congress has approved it.
Peace talks stalled with one substantive agreement as an achievement though, the
Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Laws
(CARHRIHL). To oversee the implementation of this agreement by both sides, the parties have
jointly appointed a Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC).Although it has not convened since 2004
and it has not agreed upon a common procedure, it has continued to register complaints about
human rights violations.
Dangerous amalgam between the CPP-NPA and legal “leftist” organizations
A recent statement made by President Arroyo during a visit she paid to the Local Peace
and Security Assembly (LPSA) of the Bicol region on December 13, 2007, shows that the
executive branch of the Government does not always distinguish between the groups promoting
an ideology in a peaceful way and groups using arms and violence to promote the same ideology.
Indeed, President Arroyo thanked LPSA for “supporting her vision to eradicate communism in
the country by the year 2010”; President Arroyo spoke about communism as such and not only
about the communist insurgency.
During a meeting of the FIDH mission with the AFP Vice-Chief of Staff and a dozen of
high-ranking officers at the AFP General Headquarters on August 16, 2007, AFP denied any
implication in extrajudicial killings. The senior military prosecutor present at the meeting told
the FIDH mission that groups such as NPA, MILF and Abu Sayyaf are clearly “enemies of the
State” and that AFP is acting in the framework of the law.
The senior military prosecutor added that there are legal groups supporting NPA and
MILF and that not all members of those legal groups are considered as “enemies of the State.”
However, according to this high-ranking officer, some prominent members of those groups have
been identified, on the basis of documents allegedly recovered by AFP, as giving the order to kill
civilians. Unfortunately, AFP did not provide the FIDH mission with a written list of names and
did not inform it about the resulting judicial proceedings. Moreover, the same senior military
prosecutor told the FIDH mission that the AFP soldiers and officers can tell and recommend to
people, especially in zones where NPA is active, to avoid joining legal groups.
“Leftist” organizations are labelled as “enemies of the State”: legal and peaceful
organizations like peasant or fishermen associations, mass organizations or political parties like
Bayan and Anak Pawis are often amalgamated with CPP-NPA, which is an armed group.
In February 2006, President Arroyo declared a week-long state of Emergency in response
to alleged conspiracies involving members of the opposition (including “leftists” but also
rightists and members of the military). At least hundreds of “leftists” – whether belonging to
legal and peaceful organizations or to armed ones – were arrested. Charges seemed largely
groundless and politically motivated.
In 2005, a slide presentation entitled “Know the Enemy” was reportedly made available to
the public. Among others, it listed “legal front organizations” (like party list groups, religious
organizations, women organizations, student associations) allegedly allied with CPP-NPA and
hence considered as “enemies of the State.” Despite official denial by AFP, it is reported by
many different stakeholders that AFP further broadcasted on TV a similar propaganda film in
2006, after the issuance of the February state of emergency. The film intended to discourage
people to belong to a list of legal left organizations, accusing the latter of being too close to CPP-
NPA. In parallel, three books entitled “The Trinity of War” were also issued by AFP, which also
contained a list of organizations labeled as allied of CPP-NPA, including peaceful and legal
political parties. Finally, “Orders of Battle” have reportedly been established, identifying sectoral
groups (people belonging to a particular category such as farmers, youth, women, workers, etc.)
alleged to be fronts of the communist underground. The Order of Battle is a list of enemies
ranked according to their importance. According to KMP (Philippine peasant organization), the
documents do not use the term “kill” but say “neutralize.” General Palparan has reportedly been
the leading military figure promoting such guidelines. When asked about his previous statements
accusing organizations such as Bayan, Karapatan or Gabriela as front organizations of CPP-
NPA, General Palparan neither confirmed nor denied having made such statements.

The legal left-wing political party Anak Pawis also has reportedly been labeled as “front
organization.” As Crispin “Ka Bel” B. Beltran, member of the House of Representatives elected
on the Anak Pawis party-list, says: “Election law foresees that any political party advocating for
or engaged in the use of arms should be dismissed. Hence, as long as no evidence is found of
such acts, all political parties – including so-called ‘leftist’ ones – should not suffer from any
‘labeling.’ Would it not be the case, pressure would be put on electors so as to encourage them to
support other parties.”
This practice of “labeling” is extremely worrying, especially since the majority of victims
of human rights violations belong to so-called “leftist” organizations. Even if they might share
the same ideology, a clear distinction should be drawn between peaceful legal parties and
organizations on the one hand and the armed groups on the other hand.
The Muslim secessionists: MNLF and MILF
There are two main Muslim armed groups in the Philippines, which were initially
forming one single movement: The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) which appeared later. Both advocate for the
independence of the Southern island of Mindanao, but MILF agenda is more rooted in Islam.
The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)
MNLF was organized in the late ‘60s - early ‘70s by Nur Misuari, a former professor at
the University of the Philippines. The goal of MNLF was to establish an independent Moro
nation through an armed struggle. The armed group is mainly based in Mindanao. It is also a
political organization in the Philippines, accredited by the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC).
On September 2, 1996 the Jakarta Accord, brokered by OIC between MNLF and GRP
was signed. This gave predominantly Muslim areas in Mindanao a degree of self-rule
with the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Nur Misuari
became the regional governor and many of the MNLF armed units were integrated into AFP.
The MNLF leader was nevertheless later arrested in 2001 and is still under house arrest today.
He is very popular in the Philippines but his attempt to collaborate with GRP was seen as a
mistake by some
– including MILF.
According to him, MNLF reportedly still counts more than 20,000 supporters. To
summarize the relations between civilians and MNLF and referring to support received from
peasants, he says “You don’t cut hands which feed you!” A tri-partite meeting was set for July
2007 between MNLF, GRP and OIC in order to revise the 1996 Jakarta peace accord. It was
however delayed.
Nur Misuari said to the FIDH mission that MNLF never attacked but only defended itself
and he insisted on brotherhood with his “friends indigenous and Christians. MNLF is not listed
as a terrorist organization.

Interview of Mr. Nur Misuari who is under house of arrest, in the presence of a spiritual leader of MNLF and under the surveillance of a guard.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF)
MILF broke away from MNLF in 1977, in order to put more emphasis on the Islamic
roots of the movement. It views poverty, the land issue and economic underdevelopment in
Mindanao as a result of the colonization of the BangsaMoro people by the Philippine
government.
MILF was established by Ustaz Salamat Hashim, who became its chairman. Before his
death in July 2003, he issued a statement denouncing terrorism and reiterated MILF commitment
to achieve peace through a political settlement. MILF also claims to be committed to make use of
anti-personnel landmines strictly for defensive purposes and in a discriminate manner.
MILF is nevertheless carrying what it sees as a war for self-determination. Its
spokesperson told the FIDH mission that MILF never initiated violence but responded when it
was attacked by soldiers violating its territory, admitting that this might have caused “collateral
damages.” He added that terrorism was not an issue but that it was a theme exploited by the
government.28 Like MNLF, MILF also acknowledges that “lost commands” and “lawless
elements” taking refuge in their territories but disowned by their leadership, might be responsible
for acts of violence.
MILF has not been listed as a “terrorist organization” by the US and the Philippine
government29 but it continues to be a target in the anti-terrorism campaign of the latter for having
links with Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). MILF recognizes having been approached by the
latter, but denies any collaboration with it. MILF is said to have about 12,000 to 12,500
members.30
It is mainly based in Mindanao and – like the MNLF – reportedly receives popular support.
GRP-MILF peace negotiations31 started in January 1997 and went back and forth until
now. Attacks allegedly perpetrated by MILF against civilians, supposed links with JI and hostile
attitude of the government towards MILF notably explain that the process has been slowed
down. The incident of Filipino marines who were beheaded on the island of Basilan in July 2007
revived the tensions between MILF and GRP.32 MILF disagrees with the GRP accusation of
beheading but recognizes the killing of the marines, considered as “legitimate” targets. Exactions
committed by AFP (including torture) are also criticized by MILF as an obstacle to the
negotiations.

Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah and Rajah Solaiman Movement
The three aforementioned groups appeared more recently in the Philippines and
reportedly have links with Al Qaeda, according mainly to the information provided by the USA
authorities. Depending on the interlo-cutor from the civil society, FIDH was told that they are a
“US product” or even do not exist. The majority of the people met by the mission agree on the
fact that they only consist of a few criminals led more by profit than by any ideology. Human
Rights Watch however listed a series of attacks perpetrated by those groups.
Like MNLF and MILF, they are mainly located in the Southern island of Mindanao.
However, both MNLF and MILF claim to distance themselves from partnership with these
extremist armed groups; individual Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) or MILF members may however join
militant alliances with Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). ASG and JI are working increasingly with
Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), militant converts to Islam based in Manila and northern
Luzon, who are a vehicle for more experienced terrorist groups to move into the country’s urban
heartland. Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah are considered by the USA as terrorist
organizations, as well as by AFP which also listed RSM as a terrorist organization.
Sources:
E. San Juan Jr., “Terrorism and Revolution: The Struggle for National Democracy and Socialism
in the Philippines.”
See
http://clogic.eserver.org/2005/sanjuan.html
By Secretary of State Colin Powell on August 9, 2002 under Executive Order 13224. On August
9, 2004, the US Secretary of State re-designated them, as a Foreign Terrorist
Organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
EU Council decision of 21 December 2005 Implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No.
2580/2001 on specific res-trictive measures directed against certain persons and entities
with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decision 2005/848/EC, Official Journal
of the European Union, 23.12.2005, L 340/64.
Cornish, M., “Communist Party of the Philippines pursues a violent course against its left
opponents,” Freedom Socialist, Vol. 26, No. 4, August-September
2005.
See e.g. Armed Forces of the Philippines press release, “CPP/NPA Covers Up its
Activities,” September 4, 2006:
http://www.afp.mil.ph/0/news/cncov.php
Learning Activity: News Analysis

Requirement:
Download any news clip or article online which reported terror attacks by the
separatists, communist rebels, ISIS-inspired groups, and other insurgents in the Philippines.
Answer the following:
1. What is the motive or intention of the terror attack?
2. Do you think the attack will satisfy their cause/motive?
3. How do you think should the government respond to such attack?

Lesson 14: Week 15
Agreement on Peace between the Government of the

Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front
• Express appreciation of the initiative of the Philippine government to achieve peace

• Derive lessons from the experience of both government and MILF
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
herein referred to as the “Parties” to this Agreement;
Determined to establish a peaceful environment and a normal condition of life in the

Bangsamoro homeland;
Reaffirming the General Cessation of Hostilities dated 18 July 1997 and the General
Framework of the Agreement of intent signed between the Parties on 27 August 1998, and
committing to reach a negotiated political settlement of the Bangsamoro problem, and enduring
peace and stability in Mindanao;
Recalling the Tripoli Agreement of 1976 and the Jakarta Accord of 1996 between the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front
(MNLF), and the OIC Resolution No. 56/9-P (IS) on 12 November 2000 of the Ninth Session of
the Islamic Summit Conference in Doha, State of Qatar, urging the GRP and the MILF “ to
promptly put an end to armed hostilities and to pursue peace talks towards finding a peaceful
resolution to the existing problem in Mindanao;”
Noting that the basic elements/principles for the resumption of peace talks between the
MILF and the GRP panels have been facilitated by the Government of Malaysia, as set forth in
the Agreement on the General Framework for the Resumption of Peace Talks between the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front signed on
March 24, 2001 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia; Further recalling Article VI of the said Agreement
on General Framework for the Resumption of the Peace Talks between the GRP and the MILF
signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in which Parties agreed to undertake relief and rehabilitation
measures for evacuees, and joint development projects in the conflict affected areas; and
Recognizing that peace negotiations between the GRP and the MILF is for the advancement of
the general interest of the Bangsamoro people and other indigenous people; and, recognizing
further the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting political settlement of the conflict in
Mindanao, the Parties welcome the resumption of the peace talks and, consequently, Have agreed
as follows:
A. SECURITY ASPECT
In accordance with the incremental characteristic of the peace process and agreement on
the General Framework for the Resumption of the Peace Talks, the Parties, as represented by
their respective Peace Panels, consider that normalization in conflict affected areas can be
achieved if certain principles and guidelines of conduct and action are adhered to by the Parties.
That among these are:
1. All past agreements of the Parties shall be implemented in accordance with the Agreement on
the General Framework for the Resumption of the Peace Talks signed in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia on 24 March 2001 for the progressive resolution of the Bangsamoro problem with
honor, justice, and integrity for all sectors of society.
2. The negotiation and peaceful resolution of the conflict must involve consultations with the
Bangsamoro people free of any imposition in order to provide chances of success and open new
formulas that permanently respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom.
3. The Parties agree to invite representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to
observe and monitor the implementation of all GRP-MILF Agreements. The Parties further agree
to strengthen the GRP-MILF Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities dated
18 July 1997. Upon signing this Agreement, a Monitoring Team shall be constituted
with
representatives from the OIC.
B. REHABILITATION ASPECT
1. The observance of international humanitarian law and respect for internationally recognized
human rights instruments and the protection of evacuees and displaced persons in the conduct of
their relations reinforce the Bangsamoro people’s fundamental right to determine their own
future and political status.
2. The MILF shall determine, lead and manage rehabilitation

and
development projects in conflict affected areas, except when public funds are involved, in which
case Government procedures and rules will be observed.
3. The Parties shall safely return evacuees to their place of origin; provide all the necessary
financial/material and technical assistance to start a new life, as well as allow them to be awarded
reparations for their properties lost or destroyed by reason of the conflict.
4. In order to pave the way for relief and rehabilitation of evacuees and implementation of
development projects in the areas affected by conflict, the Parties agree to implement the GRP-
MILF Agreement on the General Cessation of Hostilities dated July 18, 1997.
C. ANCESTRAL DOMAIN ASPECT
On the aspect of ancestral domain, the Parties, in order to address the humanitarian and
economic
Torrentira, needs ofinthe
Readings Bangsamoro
Philippine History people and preserve their social and cultural heritage and
87 | P a g e
inherent rights over their ancestral domain, agree that the same be discussed further by the
Parties in their next meeting.
D. ACTIVATION OF COMMITTEES
Immediately upon signing of this Agreement, the Parties hereby agree to activate working
committees for the purpose of discharging their mandates, particularly the implementation of all
agreements between the Parties.
E. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Parties acknowledge the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in

pursuing an all-out peace policy in Mindanao. The Parties express their collective appreciation
and gratitude to the Great Leader of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, and to the Chairman of the Gaddafi International Foundation for
Charitable Associations, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, for hosting the Formal Opening of the
Resumption of the GRP-MILF Peace Talks in Tripoli, Libya; to His Excellency Dato Seri Dr.
Mahathir Mohammad, Prime Minister of Malaysia and His Excellency Abdurrahman Wahid,
President of the Republic of Indonesia, for their full and continuing support.
Done on this 22nd day of June 2001 corresponding to 30 Rabi’ ul Aw’al 1422 in the
presence of the representatives of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable
Associations, the Government of Malaysia and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.
For the GRP:

JESUS G. DUREZA
Chairman, GRP Peace Panel
For the MILF:

AL HAJ MURAD EBRAHIM Chairman, MILF Peace Panel Witnessed by:
SAIF AL ISLAM GADDAFI
Chairman of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations
Source: https://asean-aipr.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ebook-191120-Lessons-Learned-GRP-
MNLF-FPA-1993-1996-1.pdf
Learning Activity: Reflection Paper

Requirement:
What important lessons have learned from this agreement for peace? What is the current
status of this agreement? Can we achieve lasting peace in Mindanao?

Lesson 15: Week 16
Report of the Cholera Epidemic in the Philippines

• Recognize the experience of epidemic in the history of the Philippines
• Create strategies to develop resilience from pandemics
• Visualize the scenario of the early Filipinos who struggled for survival from the infection
of the disease.
The 1899-1902 war of resistance and the 1902-1904 cholera epidemic belong to two
distinct series in Philippine historiography. The fight against the cholera of 1902-1904 has been
represented as a drama whose theme is American heroism and medico-sanitary skill. Cholera was
introduced into the Mariquina valley east of Manila by troops sent to guard against infection of
the Manila water supply. Cholera claimed its victims from all levels of society, including
American soldiers and residents, prominent Filipinos, Chinese, and Spaniards. Developments in
nineteenth- century medicine contributed to the convergence of colonial warfare and disease
control.
In March 1902, it was the fourth year of the Philippine-American War. Many towns in
Luzon, hamletted by the Americans, suffered from famine. In Isabela, Emilio Aguinaldo would
soon be captured. In Batangas, Miguel Malvar felt forced to surrender soon, so that rice could be
planted in May. To top it all, cholera arrived. “For the inhabitants of the war-torn areas, it was
ultimately a choice between dying of hunger or dying of cholera,” wrote historian Reynaldo C.
Ileto.
“In March 1902 a vessel from Hongkong arrived in Manila carrying cholera. Soon after,
the first cases of cholera surfaced. Cholera was impossible to contain because the Filipinos and
even the American troops themselves moved around carrying the bacteria. Cholera was not
selective; it claimed as victims people from different strata of society and ethnicity—elite,
masses, Filipinos, Americans, Spaniards and Chinese. But the lower classes were the hardest hit,
especially in certain districts in Manila, because of the ‘overcrowding, poor sanitation, and poor
diet.’ By the time the epidemic ended, about 109,461 died, 4,386 of which were in Manila…
“[T]he cholera epidemic gave way to what Ileto calls ‘germ warfare,’ another stage of the
Philippine-
American War. During this time, military surgeons became the next wave of ‘pacifiers’ after the
cavalrymen and troops. Searches and surveillance were conducted among Filipino homes to
ferret out the sick and quarantine them. The Filipino response was concealment and evasion
since they refused to part with their sick family members.
“Within the cholera combat zone, colonial officials prohibited gatherings of people in places
considered conducive to the spread of cholera like churches and cockpits. Officials also resorted
to burning the houses of cholera victims and even gathering places like the town market. By
cremating cholera casualties, they elicited further resistance and hatred among Filipinos whose
religious practices demanded proper burial.
Official publication of the report of the cholera epidemic in the Philippines

Ileto notes that powerful drugs, strict quarantine, and cremation of the dead did not end
cholera. Rather, it was the combination of the heavy rains and the increasing immunity of the
populace that caused the epidemic to subside.
The Deadly 1902 Cholera Epidemic in the Philippines, with Special Interest on Its
Consequences in Batangas
The disease cholera is an infection of the small intestines that leads to diarrhea, vomiting
and muscle cramps. It is caused by a bacterium called vibrio cholera that can be transmitted by
unsanitary water or food. Persons infected with the disease may suffer severe dehydration and
electrolyte imbalance, which may, in turn, result into death. The mortality rate for the disease is
anything from 5% to 50%, depending on the availability of treatment .
Occasionally, cholera epidemics worldwide reach pandemic levels, i.e. spread over a
large region, multiple continents or even worldwide. The first pandemic to reach the Philippines
was the one of 1852-1860, during the Spanish era. There were passing references to this in the
barrio histories of Batangas called Historical Data, so we know that the pandemic affected the
province as well.
There is more available documentation on the sixth global pandemic which raged through
the Philippines, including Batangas, from 1902-1904; and it is to this that we now devote our
attention.
On 8 March 1902, American health officials in the Philippines received word that a strain
of Asiatic cholera had appeared in Guangzhou, China; and that five days later it was also
reported
in Hong Kong. By 19 March, the chief quarantine officer issued an order “forbidding the
importation” of vegetables as well as a directive to health officials to “be on the lookout for
persons
suffering from bowel trouble of a suspicious character.”
Despite these measures, the cholera somehow managed to slip through. The following day,
the Board of Health was informed by the San Juan de Dios Hospital that two patients were
exhibiting symptoms of Asiatic cholera. By 22 March, the presence of the disease was
confirmed. Despite efforts by American officials to contain the spread of the disease, before long
it did so, in communities along the Pasig River, including Manila.
Quarantine guards were stationed “on all roads, paths and streams leading out from
Manila” to prevent the disease from spreading to the provinces, but it did so, anyway. It was
likely brought along with them by people who slipped quarantine by riding bancas or crossed
fields instead of using roads to get out of Manila.
On 24 May, the first case of cholera infection in Batangas was confirmed in the town of
Bauan. Before long, the disease started to spread. By July, cases were confirmed in the towns of
Balayan, Batangas, Lipa, Taal, Lemery, Ibaan, San Juan de Bocboc, Tanauan and San Jose.
By 1 September, 3,093 people had been afflicted; and of this number, a total of 2,340
would
die for a staggering 75% mortality rate. These were just the cases that were officially reported
and recorded.
How the cholera spread so swiftly was likely due to a number of factors. First, there was a
“scarcity of doctors in the province6” which, in turn, made diagnosis and treatment not just of
cholera difficult. Sanitary conditions were also understandably poor by present-day standards,
and water for drinking and personal hygiene was fetched in many cases from open wells or
rivers. In fact, when the Americans first tried to control the disease in Manila by distributing
distilled water, many among the uneducated suspected that they were being poisoned.
When the first case of cholera was confirmed in Batangas, it had been just a month or so
since Batangueños were allowed to return to their homes from the concentration camps, where
they were forced to live by the United States Army since December of the previous year. The
forced concentration was a tactical move to prevent the civilian population from supporting the
guerrilla efforts of General Miguel Malvar’s forces.
After studying burial records in the towns of Lipa and Batangas, the historian Glenn A.
May conjectured that “the zones (i.e. concentration camps) were unhealthy places to live (in) and
that the number of deaths was extraordinarily high during the months of concentration.”
In other words, the general state of health among Batangueños after their release from the
concentration camps would have been poor, particularly in the face of a raging pandemic. This
state of poor health would have continued even after the end of concentration because farms
upon which families depended for subsistence had been neglected while people were in the
camps. There would have been food shortages.
While the disease raged, the Board of Health decreed that no funeral services over the dead
would be allowed in the churches of Batangas as a precaution against its spread. As a
workaround, church services were held without the bodies of the deceased, which were often sent
straight to the cemetery for burial.
In time, measures undertaken by the Board of Health would result in a decline of the
disease’s spread. Among others, these included an educational campaign about how to avoid
becoming infected by the disease; the distribution of free distilled water; a ban on the sale of
food items deemed likely to carry the disease; and the quarantine of infected localities.
Overall, however, by the time the Board of Health declared that the disease had
disappeared
from Luzon in 1904, in Batangas the final number of reported cases was 3,433 with 2,718 deaths.
The mortality rate was a staggering 79%. There would be more outbreaks of the disease in the
country in the coming years, but certainly not of the same scale as the pandemic that raged
from
1902-1904.
Source:
Report of the cholera epidemic in the Philippines. Medical Record 1866-1922; New York Vol
63
Issue 9 ( Feb 28, 1903): 345.
https://search.proquest.com/openview/2efc2a69c0749409c1aba9c8013b7dbe/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=40146
Ileto, R. (2017). Cholera and the origins of the American sanitary order in the Philippines.
Imperial medicine and indigenous societies. Manchester University Press
https://opinion.inquirer.net/128605/cholera-killed-100000-in-1902-04#ixzz6Tx1daWw5
Batangas: History, Culture and Folklore: Report of the Cholera Epidemic in the
Philippines

Learning Activity: Comparative Analysis
Requirement:
Given the current situation, using the table below, compare the scenarios of both cholera
epidemic in 1902 and the COVID-19 in the Philippines in terms of:
a) The number of persons infected (as of the real time for COVID-19)
b) Speed of spread of infection
c) Effect to the economy
d) Effect to the social activities of the people
e) Strategies of the government to address the situation
Indicators 1902 Cholera Epidemic COVID-19 Pandemic

The number of persons infected
(as of the real time)
Speed of spread of infection
Effect to the economy
Effect to the social activities of

the people
Strategies of the government to

address the situation

Leeson 16: Week 17-18
Mintal
“The Little Tokyo of the Pre-war Philippines”
Learning Objectives

• Recognize the significant role of Brgy. Mintal in the local history of Mindanao before
World War II
• Appraise the historical value of heritage sites in Mintal
• Recommend programs and projects for the preservation of heritage sites in Mintal
and other significant areas in Tugbok area
Few people know that Davao City and Japan share a rich historical bond. More than a
century ago, there was a thriving community of around 30,000 Japanese in Barangay Mintal, then
the city’s economic center. What remains of the community a century later are a few Japanese
mementos, cemetery and monuments that serve as window to the past. It’s an urban legend that
during the Commonwealth era, the Japanese community that settled in Davao was among the
most progressive in the early days of Davao and left behind a long-lasting legacy that influences
us to this day.In fact, it can be said that they set up the broad strokes for much of the
development and economic blueprint of modern Davao, probably the only city in the country
where the Japanese imprint is so strong and so beneficial. Davao, during the days of the
Commonwealth era, was found to be a suitable place to cultivate abaca. Land was fertile, weather
benevolent, and unlike Bicol, it was safely located away from the typhoon belt.
One of the early Japanese settlers was wealthy entrepreneur Ohta Kyozaburo, who arrived
in the city in 1903, set up his Ohta Development Company head office in Talomo, and later
moved to Mintal where his abaca business had not only flourished but had also driven the city’s
economy. Ohta Kyosaburo, a Japanese businessman, decided to start an abaca plantation there.
Kennon Road to Baguio was just completed. The Japanese work force was out of work but still in
Manila waiting for repatriation. Instead of their returning to Japan where work was uncertain,
Ohta convinced them to move to rural Davao and begin abaca cultivation there.
From oral accounts, the area where the Japanese settled to plant abaca was part of tribal
land owned by the local tribe, the Bagobos, led by Datu Intal, thus the name “Mintal.” Ohta
Kyozaburo was dubbed the “Father of Davao Development.” His success in abaca farming and
processing drew other Japanese to Mintal, then the most advanced of all villages with a well
thought of map similar to an “urban plan” initiated by the Japanese. Japanese built, among
others, a school, cemetery, irrigation facility, ice plant, hospital, and hydropower plants with a
combined power of 3,470 kilowatts enough to power the whole of old Davao City. The hospital
built by the Japanese was said to be the biggest and the most modern at that time in Mindanao.

Photo on the left shows the decrepit stairs of the hospital (right) built by the Japanese in Mintal, Davao City in the
early 1900s. Photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV
The Japanese were forced to flee the city immediately after the World War II broke out in
the 1940’s for fear they might bear brunt of the people for the hostilities that the imperial army
had brought. During the recovery period, however, most of the Japanese houses, monuments, and
buildings were destroyed, parts removed to build new houses or looted for gold. The Shinto
shrines were also all over Mintal but remnants of these buildings could no longer be found.
Ohta Kyozaburo Monument
The Ohta Kyozaburo Monument is still standing within the Mintal Elementary School. However, the nearby
triangular structure was destroyed by treasure hunters looking for gold, the war loots of the Japanese imperial army
The obelisk is known to pupils as “pencil”. MindaNews photo by ANTONIO L. COLINA IV

Ohta Kyozaburo Monument is an important historical structure
erected in 1926 in Bago Oshiro in Calinan District, Davao City
in honor of Ohta Kyozaburo, a Japanese entrepreneur, who,
shortly after the turn of the 20th century, migrated to Davao City
and cultivated vast lands around the shores of Davao Gulf into
Abacá and coconut plantations, and who is considered by local
historians as the "Father of Davao Development."
Born in Hyogo, Japan in February 1876, Ohta

Kyozaburo established the Ohta Development Company, the
first Japanese Abacá plantation company in the Philippines in
May 3,
1907. He also established several other companies such as
Mintal
Plantation Company, Riverside Plantation Company, Talomo
River Plantation Company, Guianga Plantation Company, and
was instrumental in Davao's economic growth and prosperity. He
died in Kyoto, Japan in October 31, 1917 at age 41.
The first wave of Japanese plantation workers set foot in 1903 (three years after the
American forces landed in 1900) and, immediately thereafter, built their own schools, hospitals
and road networks, published their own newspapers, erected an embassy, and a Shinto Shrine.
During this time, private farm ownership and large-scale business interests such as copra, timber,
fishing, and import-export trading by the Japanese had flourished in Davao region.
Transportation and communication facilities had also much improved, and over time, the locals
learned from the Japanese the modern techniques of cultivation. Hence, agriculture became the
main lifeblood of Davao which paved the way for the province’s economic growth and
prosperity.

Left photo: Abaca Plantation In Davao, and right photo: the obelisk in honor of Ohta Kyozaburo

The Guianga Municipal District, centered around Mintal in Davao, known as "Little
Tokyo," became the center of trade and settlement for Japanese expatriates working for the Ohta
Development Corporation and the Furukawa Plantation Company. By the 1930’s, Davao was
completely under the control of the Japanese and their economic clout made them politically
influential as their population grew to 17, 900 by 1939. During this period, the then undivided
province of Davao became the world's biggest producer of Abaca with the entire
industry practically under Japanese control. Despite laws restricting foreign ownership of land,
the Japanese managed to become the largest plantation owners in Davao. They were able to
achieve this by using dummies to buy land from local landowners and marrying local women,
particularly with datu lineage.
As Japan was becoming a world power, having defeated Russia in 1904, and annexed
Korea in 1910 and Manchuria in 1931, doubts as to the real intentions of the Japanese haunted
the entire country. In the 1934 Constitutional Convention, Davao delegate, Pantaleon Pelayo Sr.,
strongly denounced total control of Davao by the Japanese and their unlimited acquisition of
land. Due to the increasing influence of the Japanese in the trade and economy of the region, on
March 16, 1936, Davao Congressman Romualdo C. Quimpo filed House Bill no. 609 calling for
the creation of Davao as a chartered city. The bill sought to break the control of the Japanese and
was subsequently passed and signed into law by President Manuel L. Quezon as Commonwealth
Act No. 51, formally creating the City of Davao from the Town of Davao (Mayo) and the
Guianga District. The Act stipulated for the appointment of its local officials by the President of
the Philippines, instead of being elected, thus entrenching Japanese power in Davao. It also made
Davao City the provincial capital of the then undivided Davao Province, thus, making it the
largest city in the world with a territory of 2,244 square kilometers or 244,400 hectares.
However, World War II erupted and, on December 8, 1941, the Japanese planes bombed
the city, and eventually occupied Davao in 1942. By 1945, the American troops and the
Philippine Commonwealth forces had liberated Davao City from Japanese occupation. And
whatever progress the local and Japanese migrants made in this "Little Tokyo" in Guianga
Municipal District in Mintal was destroyed during the war. The only remnants include the
Obelisk built in 1926 with the inscription:

Map of Pre-War Mintal

The Obelisk and the Japanese Pyramid
Beside the Obelisk is the base of the Japanese pyramidal structure honoring the memories
of the directors of Ohta’s plantation company. The area used to be part of a ten-thousand-hectare
Abaca plantation which included an advanced irrigation canal system.
Today, the irrigation canal is being utilized by the National Power Corporation. The
Obelisk, the Japanese Pyramid, and the irrigation canal are located on the grounds of the Mintal
Public Elementary School which was the former site of one of the biggest Japanese Primary
Schools built in Davao in 1924, and which was once used as the Japanese Headquarter during
WWII..
Other markers and obelisks of Japanese nationals who died as residents of Davao during
the war can still be seen in and around Mintal, Toril, and Calinan. In the month of August,
Japanese tourists would usually come to these places to visit and honor their dead - an important
Japanese tradition. They particularly visit Mintal which is the site of the Ohta Corporation, once
the biggest prewar Abacá production company that had ruled the industry for over four
decades. Local government officials led by "Little Tokyo": of Prewar Philippines, and the
deputy mayor, are busy at this time preparing for the coming of their Japanese guests.
On May 11, 2009, a Peace Pole was planted right beside the marker by the World Peace
Prayer Society.

The Marker erected in 2003 and the Peace Pole
Funerary stele with Japanese characters in Mintal cemetery
Bagobos and Japanese coexisted peacefully. Intermarriage resulted in, among other
things, increased plantation area. Eventually, the Bagobo population out-migrated and today
there are hardly any that remain in the Mintal area. During the Commonwealth era, a major part
of Mintal was planted to abaca. In 1937, at the height of its agricultural and civic activity,
more Japanese
workers brought in from the Okinawa region of Japan. It is said that there were as many as
11,000
Japanese living and working there aside from their Filipino employees.
To care for such a large community, facilities were introduced to service the population.
The schools, hospital, commercial and infrastructure facilities—to mention a few—set up in
Mintal and managed by Japanese or Japan-trained Filipinos. Managed with the usual Japanese
efficiency, the facilities became known to be among the best in Mindanao at that time.
The infrastructure left by the Japanese in Mintal was technologically so well built that they
formed the basis of the infrastructure network of modern Davao. It can be said that they set the
tone for the development of contemporary Davao.
One example is the water catchment system set up to service the hydroelectric power plant
of old Mintal has survived to be incorporated into the city power system until its recent
decommissioning. As expected, World War II was the end of the Japanese presence in Mintal.
Those who did not flee into the surrounding hills joined the Imperial army. To be able to
continue living in Davao, others took on new identities and changed their living patterns.
Physically, very little Japanese heritage remains in Mintal. And what little remains is badly in
need of repair and conservation. Some older people in the barrio remember vague Japanese links,
but these links have become clouded memories. No traces of Japanese culture, language or even
food remain.
Reflection:
It is mostly forgotten these days, or vaguely mentioned during some conversations with
Davaoeños. The story of Mintal, the Japanese presence, and their contribution to contemporary
life and culture is totally disregarded—a pity since this is such a crucial part of Davao history.
Mintal is an example of forgotten heritage. Mintal is commonly known as “Little Tokyo” but
there is little to remind one of Tokyo. In fact, the town looks like any other typical town
along any Philippine highway: tired, dusty and sleepy.
Nothing but a few decaying Japanese monuments—graveyard steele inscribed with
Japanese characters in the cemetery, a concrete pyramid (badly broken down) next to a chipped
obelisk memorial to Ohta Kyosaburo located in what is now the public-school football field.
Only the ruined bottom of the front steps of the former hospital remains, hidden away in the back
of the public market that has taken over the original hospital site.
The heritage possibilities for a barrio like Mintal are endless. But first, the residents have
to rediscover and relive their Japanese heritage, the very thing that gives them the cultural
significance that sets them apart from their neighbors.
Once the cultural significance is rediscovered, pride of place sets in, It is the touchstone to
community redevelopment, for additional income generating projects, for locals to “own” their
barrio and look out for its future.
Think of Vigan. Once the locals rediscovered the uniqueness of their city, doors and
possibilities opened up: houses were restored and re-used for different purposes, plazas and
streets were improved, new businesses blossomed, and tourists started coming in droves.
Davao is a city of migrants, of people who have settled there from all over the Philippines.
Among its earliest and most influential migrant groups were the Japanese, who deserve more
thanks and recognition for their legacy than what they receive today.
There are many Mintals in the Philippines, many towns or districts whose uniqueness has
been covered by the dust of time. These places are just waiting for you to lead in its rediscovery.
Who knows what treasures are waiting to be found?
Source: http://davaocitybybattad.blogspot.com/2012/06/ohta-kyozaburo-monument.html
Colina, A. (2017). From ‘Little Tokyo’ to Tokyo, Japan: historical bond, shared journey.
Mindanews.
Villalon, A. (2017). Little Tokyo in Davao. Philippine Daily Inquirer February 13,
2017. https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/254364/little-tokyo-davao/#ixzz6Ts00KzEB
Learning Activity: Document Analysis
Download the document in the like below:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343381635_Proposed-Eco-Cultural-Historical-
Tourism-Site
or you may scan this QR Code in your android or IOS Phone to access the
document directly.
The document is a research output which was converted into a proposed eco-historical-tourism
site in Mintal and neighboring areas. The document is still a plan. It has not been presented yet
to any concerned agency.
Requirements:
1. What is your impression about the document?
2. Does it provide enough information for the development of the heritage site? Explain.
3. What government agencies should be tapped to undertake the proposed project?
4. What can you suggest to the proponents of the proposed project so that it can be given
attention by the concerned government agency?

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Readings in Philippine History 1 | P a ge

Lesson 1: Week 1-2

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 2|Page

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

Doctrina Christiana, the first published work

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 4|Page

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 5|Page

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 6|Page

Jose Rizal Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 8|Page

Equally important is the

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 9|Page

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 11 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 12 | P a g e

History of the Philippine Islands

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 13 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 14 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 15 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 16 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 17 | P a g e

Learning Activity: Reaction Paper

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 19 | P a g e

The Manunggul Jar

By the end of this lesson, the student will be able to:

The burial jar which is unrivaled in Southeast Asia and

Discovery of the Jar

First Excavation and Response to Discovery

Design of the Jar

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 22 | P a g e

Learning Activity: Map Analysis

Manunggul, Tabon Caves

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 24 | P a g e

The Laguna Copperplate

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 25 | P a g e

..,. ....., ..,

Characteristicsof the Lacuna Copperplate

Chief Lapu-Lapu • Warrior and Hero of the Philippines

Origins of the Inscription on the Laguna Copperplate

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 28 | P a g e

P/acos montioMd in the Laguna Copperplate lnSCliplion. ( Hf>Cror Santos)

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 29 | P a g e

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 29 | P a g e

Duties of the Katipunan of the Sons of the People

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 30 | P a g e

Learning Activity: Personalized Decalogue Construction

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 31 | P a g e

Act of Declaration of Philippine Independence

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 32 | P a g e

Learning Activity: Evaluative Essay

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 33 | P a g e

1899 CONSTITUTION OF THE

By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:

• Examine the contents of the Malolos Constitution

The President of the Council,

Article 2. The Philippine Republic is free and independent

Article 3. Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people.

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 34 | P a g e

Article 6. The following are Filipinos:

The condition of being a Filipino is lost in accordance with law.

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 35 | P a g e

Article 20. Neither shall any Filipino be deprived:

Torrentira, Readings in Philippine History 37 | P a g e