Lesson 9: Rizal's Annotations of Antonio
Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
What is Sucesos?
EVENTS, HAPPENINGS, OCCURENCE
The Sucesos is the work of an honest
observer, a versatile bureaucrat, who knew
the workings of the administration from the
inside.
What is Las Islas Filipinas?
The Philippines was named in honor of King
Philip II of Spain
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
-CHAPTER 1 - Magellan and Legazpi's
seminal expeditions
-CHAPTER 2-7 - Chronological report on
government under Governor-General -
CHAPTER 8 - Philippine Islands, the
natives there, their antiquity, customs and
government.
An account of Spanish observation about
the Filipinos and the Philippines"
Morga's purpose for writing Sucesos
The goal of Sucesos was to record "the
feats accomplished by our Spaniards in the
discovery, conquering, and conversion of
the Filipinas islands, as well as the different
fortunes they occasionally enjoy in the great
kingdoms and among the pagan peoples
who surround the islands."
Background information/Important
information about Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas
1. This is one of the first books ever to
tackle Philippine History.
2. Book that describes the events
inside and outside of the country
from 1493 to 1603, including the
history of the Philippines.
3. Consist of 8 chapters.
4. Discuss the political, social and
economical aspects of colonizer and
the colonized country.
5. The content of the book is based on
documentary research, observation
and personal experience of Morga.
6. Rizal is a secondary source of the
book due to his Annotations.
Antonio De Morga
-Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay
(November 29,1559 - July 21, 1636) was a
Spanish soldier, lawyer and a high ranking
colonial official for 43years, in the
Philippines from 1594 to 1604, New Spain
and Peru, where he was presented of the
Real audience for 20years.
-He was also a historian.
-He published the book Sucesos de las
Islas Filipinas in 1609, considered one of
the most important works on the early
history of the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines.
Blumentritt's Influence on Rizal
Ferdinand Blumentritt has encouraged Rizal
to write about the Philippine's pre-colonial
History.
Why did Rizal choose Morga's Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas?
Rizal's Objectives
1.To awaken the consciousness of the
FIlipinos regarding their glorious way of the
past.
2.To correct what has been distorted about
the Philippines due to Spanish conquest.
3.To prove that FIlipinos are civilized even
before the coming of the Spaniards.
On RIZAL's ANNOTATIONS
THE EARLY FILIPINO PRIDE
-Rizal strove to establish that the FIlipinos
could be proud of their preconquest past.
History as a Propaganda Weapon
-Rizal aimed to use history as a propaganda
weapon.
EARLY GOVERNMENT
Our forefathers in the pre-colonial
Philippines already possessed a working
judicial and legislative system.
HIGH LITERACY RATE
-The Spanish missionaries exploited the
baybayin for their own ends, learning and
using it to translate their goals.
EARLY ARTILLERY
-Our ancestors were very proficient in the
art of war. Vast knowledge in crafting
weapons like spears, swords, bows,
daggers etc.
SMOOTH FOREIGN RELATIONS
-The pre-colonial Filipinos had already
established trading and diplomatic relations
with countries.
SELF-SUFFICIENT
-In terms of food, our forefathers did not
suffer from any lack therof. Blessed with
such a resource-rich country, they had
enough for themselves and their families.
1.ADVANCED CIVILIZATION
-Our ancestors possessed a complex
working society and a culture replete with
works of arts and literature.
Rizal's 3 Propositions
1.The people of the Philippines have a
culture on their own, before the coming of
the Spaniards.
2.Filipinos were decimated, demoralized,
exploited, and ruined by the Spanish
colonization.
3.The present state of the Philippines was
not necessarily superior to its past.
Important Points
-Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is the first
book tackle the Philippine History.
-The book discusses the political, social and
economical aspects of a colonizer and the
colonized country.
-The book describes the events inside and
outside of the country from 1492 to 1603,
including the history of the Philippines.
-The pre-colonial Philippines already
possessed a working judicial and legislative
system.
-Spanish missionaries put an end to the
baybayin written system of the Philippines
to translate their goals.
-Our ancestors possessed a complex
society and culture filled with arts and
literature.
Importance of Rizal's Annotations to the
present generation:
• To awaken in the Filipinos the
consciousness of our past
• To devote ourselves to studying the future
• To first lay bare the past, in order to better
judge the present and to survey the road
trodden during three centuries
• To prove Filipinos had a culture of their
own, prior to colonization, that the Filipinos
were NOT inferior to the white man
• To shatter the myth of the so-called
"Indolence of the Filipinos" To reduce those
Filipinos who denied their native tongue into
rotten fish
• To seriously study Tagalog and produce a
comprehensive Tagalog dictionary
• To embrace the generic term "Indio" , or
in today's case, Filipino, with all its negative
connotations, and turn it into one of dignity
and nobility.
Lesson 10: The Novels of Jose Rizal
The First Novel: NOLI ME TANGERE
Publication History
-Rizal proposed a book writing project to the
Filipino members of the Circulo Hispano-
Filipino. The book
would deal on the socio-cultural and political
aspects of life in the Philippines.
-Most of the members wanted to write about
the characters and activities of the Filipino
women.
-Most of them were not interested in Rizal's
proposed project. The Noli Me Tangere was
printed in Berlin
because Rizal was short of funds. He was
charged P300.00 for 2,000 copies. His
friend Maximo Viola
offered to pay the amount and the book was
finally released in March 1887.
Uncle Toms Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
-it is inspired Dr. Rizal to prepare a novel
that would depict the miseries of his people
under the last of Spanish tyrant.
"Noli Me Tangere" is a Latin phrase that
Rizal took from the Bible, meaning
"Touch Me Not" in John 20:17, the
newly-risen Christ says to Mary
Magdalene: "Touch me not; I am not yet
ascended to my Father, but go to my
brethren, and say unto them I ascend
undo my Father and your Father,
and to my God and your God.
-(The Social Cancer as the alternative
English title)
 Thoughts and Ideas of Jose Rizal in the
Novel : Noli Me Tangere

1.Social Cancer
2.Jose Rizal viewed the friars as the major
cause of the social cancer
3.Jose Rizal criticized religious fanaticism of
Filipinos
4.Jose Rizal emphasized that education is
prerequisite of reform, progress and social
change

-Upper Triangle
This represents Rizal's
past life.

-Lower Triangle
This represents Rizal's
currents situations.

The Second Novel: El Filibusterismo

Translating the book's title in

English language, it means one chapter and runs for
The Reign of Greed. 10 pages.
Compared to the book cover -Ambeth Ocampo
or Noli Me Tangere, reconstructed this draft
El Filibusterismo's cover is and translated it into a
plain, as designed by Jose rich and full narrative,
Rizal. The plain cover conveys now known as the
a fresh start for the Makamisa.
Philippines and Filipinos
without the trace of symbols
from the events and
situations in Noli Me Tangere.

Thoughts and Ideas of Jose Rizal in the

Novel : Makamisa/Etikang Tagalog

Thoughts and Ideas of Jose Rizal in the 1.The 'defects' of Spanish clergies and the
Novel : El Filibusterismo Filipinos

1.Jose Rizal's thoughts of how justice must

be attained
2.Revolution as an alternative to reform
3.Qualities that a leader of social change
must possess
4.The defects of the Spanish colonial
regime and the Filipino people

Lesson 10 (continuation): Selected

The Third Novel- Makamisa Essays and Poems of Dr. Jose Rizal
-Rizal’s third novel only has

I. Selected Essays of Jose Rizal
Three of Dr. Jose Rizal’s essays – The
Philippines: A Century Hence, On the
Indolence of the Filipino and To
the Young Women of Malolos contain his
ideas and thoughts about the prevailing
conditions of the Philippines under the
Spanish colonial regime.
He emphasized through these works the
pervasive effects of colonization to the
Philippines and Filipinos
and how could these be addressed or
redressed. Rizal also used history as an
effective tool to analyze the
prevailing social conditions in the
Philippines; to rectify the errors and
misconceptions on the Filipinos
insinuated by the Spaniards; and to present
the probable situations that will happen in
the Philippines.
conditions of the Philippines using a
tripartite view of the country’s history. In this
essay, he showed the importance of
studying history in understanding and
analyzing the present conditions of the
society and ‘predict’ possible situations that
would happen within a century.
It is important to note that Jose Rizal in this
essay and other works such as On
The Indolence of the Filipino and his
Annotation of Antonio de Morga’s
Succesos de las Islas Filipinas that he
asserted that Filipinos have their own
culture and history before the Spanish
conquest.

A. The Philippines: A Century Hence

It is originally entitled “Filipinas dentro de

cien años” and was published in the
periodical La Solidaridad in four installments
from 30 September 1889 to 31 January
1890. Through this essay, Rizal broaches
the most basic question, “Will the
Philippines continue to be a colony of
Spain?” He exposed the reasons for the
failure of Spain to uplift the Philippine
economic and social conditions and
projected the probable condition of the
Philippines.

Rizal presented a historical analysis of the B. On the Indolence of the Filipino

prevailing social, economic and political
It was originally entitled “La Indolencia de
los Filipinos” and was published in the
periodical La Solidaridad in five installments
from July 15 to September 15, 1890.
It’s a response of Jose Rizal to the
accusation of Spaniards that the indios
(Filipinos) were indolent.
Contents:
Part I. Introduction
-Rizal defined the idea of indolence. He
criticized that in the Philippines indolence
is blamed for shortcomings and misdeeds of
a person. He argued that
indolence is not the cause of backwardness
and trouble but the effect of
trouble and backwardness.
-Jose Rizal admitted that Filipinos have the
predisposition of laziness but he
attributed this to the tropical climate of the
Philippines. He maintained that
indolence is natural and claimed that the
Spaniards and other Europeans were
more indolent for they use climate as a
reason for them not to work as hard
as the natives in their colonies. They use
the natives to do their work and enjoy
their position and manipulation of the
situation.
Part II and III
-Rizal asserted that the indolence of the
Filipinos is a chronic malady [illness] but it is
not hereditary, for
Filipinos have not always been indolent. He
used several accounts which prove that
Filipinos before the
colonization of Spain were virtuous and
industrious.
Part III
-In this part, Jose Rizal explained the
reasons for the indolence of the Filipinos or
the “abandonment of
industry, agriculture and commerce” by
citing repressive policies implemented by
the Spanish
authorities. He concluded that the Filipinos
became indolent because they didn’t benefit
from their
hard works.
Part IV
-In this part, Jose Rizal explained the
conditions that foster/encourage and sustain
the indolence of the
Filipinos. He explained that these conditions Jose Rizal also explained in this essay the
had made the Filipinos hopeless and important role of women in the society and
uncertain of their the qualities of his ideal women. He gave
future. Having no reason and motivation to advice to the women of Malolos about the
work, he remained inactive, unproductive qualities of men that they should look for.
and indolent. In this essay, Rizal stated his bcriticisms on
religious and Spanish clergies.
Part V
-In this part, Jose Rizal explained the
reasons of the indolence of the Filipinos
which emanates from
them but was perpetrated by the Spaniards.
He also explained the causes and effects of
the lack of
national sentiments of Filipinos arguing that
due to the lack of national sentiment and the
prevailing
social conditions in the Philippines that
causes great hardships and miseries, the
Filipinos lost their hope
and motivation to work and became
indolent. For Jose Rizal indolence of the
Filipinos and the
backwardness of the Philippines were
caused by the Spaniards.

C. To The YoungWomen of Malolos

It is a letter written by Dr. Jose Rizal in
December, 1888 to the young
women of Malolos in response to the
request of Marcelo H. Del Pilar
after learning that a group of twenty young
women in Malolos petitioned the Governor-
general to open a ‘night school’ to study
Spanish language. This was unheard of in
the Philippines during those
times and had caused a stir in the country
and in Spain. The petition was opposed by
the parish priest thus it was turned down by
the Governor. The young women of Malolos
persisted until they were allowed. The
school lasted for three months.
II. Selected Poems of Jose Rizal
A. To My Fellow Children
It is a Tagalog poem written allegedly by
Jose Rizal when he was 8
years old. Up to this day, the authorship is
still debated.] Whether or
not it was written by Jose Rizal, the poem
had inspired nationalism
among Filipinos.
Ideas of Jose Rizal:
1. Love of one’s language
2. The Tagalog language was equated by
Jose Rizal to other
languages like the Spanish, English and
Latin.
 C. To the Flowers of Heidelberg

This poem was written by Jose Rizal in

B. To The Filipino Youth
August, 1886 while he was in Germany
studying techniques of eye operations.
It is a poem submitted by Jose Rizal to a
poetry contest
He was fascinated by the flowers in spring
which had been organized for Filipinos
in Heidelberg and wrote this poem with a
by the Manila
feeling of deep longing for his family and his
Lyceum of Art and Literature in 1879. He
country. This poem reflects Rizal’s hopes
won the first
for the betterment of the country and the
prize and received a silver pen.
lives of the Filipinos.
In this poem, Rizal challenged the youth to
study, and
develop their full potential for they are the
fair hope of
our motherland. They should be able to
think and act
independently, seek solutions from within
themselves for
the betterment of the country.
D. Mi Retiro
It is a poem written by Jose Rizal for his
mother which expressed Jose Rizal’s
serene life in Dapitan. This poem shows
Rizal’s acceptance of his destiny and
whatever justice will be given him.

E. ‘Mi Ultimo Adios’

It is an untitled and undated poem written by

Jose Rizal.This poem expresses Jose
Rizal’s undying love for the Philippines and
his loved ones. He reiterated that dying for
one’s conviction and for the country is a
great honor.