Hist 213 MODULE SY 2020 2021 1

ha
Readings in
Philippine History
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Philippine History viewed from the lens of selected
primary sources in different periods, analysis and interpretations. The course aims
to expose students to different facets of Philippine history through the lens of
eyewitness. Rather than rely on secondary materials such as textbooks, which is
the usual approach in teaching Philippine history, different types of primary
sources will be used-written (qualitative and quantitative), oral, visual, audio-
visual, digital-covering various aspects of Philippines life (political, economic,
social, cultural). Students are expected to analyze the selected readings
contextually and in terms of content (stated and implied). The end goal is to enable
students to understand and appreciate our rich past by deriving insights from
those who were actually present at the time of the event.
Program : Bachelor of Science in Office Management
Course Code : Hist 213
Course Title : Readings in Philippine History
Course Credit : 3 units Contact Hours : 54
BULACAN POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Bulihan, City of Malolos
Bulacan Date Developed:

Bachelor of Polytechni
July 2020
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Philippine History Document Developed by:
Hist 213 No. Farrah Mae S. Santos Revision # 00
c/o Admin
Expected Graduate
General Learning Outcomes
Attributes
 Contributed to and give 1. Demonstrated thorough knowledge on the

impact on the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the
educational, economic, BPC and of the BTVTEd Program.
social, cultural political 2. Evaluate primary sources for their credibility,
and moral well-being and authenticity, and provenance;
environment 3. Analyze the context, content, and perspective
consciousness they serve; of different kinds of primary sources;
 Gained world class 4. Determine the contribution of different kinds
knowledge proactive and of primary sources in understanding
committed individuals; Philippine history;
 Developed socially 5. Develop critical and analytical skills with
responsible individuals; exposure to primary sources;
 Empowered human 6. Demonstrate the ability to formulate
resources; arguments in favor or against a particular
 Gained knowledge for issue using primary sources;
poverty alleviation, 7. Effectively communicate, using various
environmental protection. techniques and genres, historical analysis of a
 Globally competitive particular event or issue that could help
towards sustainable others understand the chosen topic;
development 8. Propose recommendations or solutions to
present day problems based on their
understanding of root causes, and their
anticipation of future scenarios.
9. Display the ability to work in a multi-
disciplinary team and contribute to a group
endeavor
10. Manifest interest in local history and show
concern in promoting and preserving the
country’s historical and cultural heritage
TEACHING METHODOLOGIES
 Lecture/Discussion
 Library research, Museum and Archives visitation
 Comparative, Document, and Textual analysis
 Small group discussion
 Reporting
 Film Analysis
 Individual, Paired-Work, and Group Exercises
 Debate
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GRADING SYSTEM
Quizzes 20%
Recitations 10%
Seat works 10%
Midterm/Finals 30%
Attendance/Character 10%
Project 20%
TOTAL 100%
GRADE PERCENTAGE DESCRIPTIVE RATING

S
1.00 98- 100 Excellent
1.25 95-97 Excellent
1.50 92-94 Very Good
1.75 89-91 Very Good
2.00 86-88 Good
2.25 83-85 Good
2.50 80-82 Satisfactory
2.75 77-79 Satisfactory
3.00 75-76 Passed
4.00 73-74 Lacking Requirements
5.00 72 and below Failed
COURSE POLICIES
1. Student is expected to participate to the best of his/her abilities in

whatever activity is scheduled per module in accordance to his/her
preferred but approved mode of learning such as any or combination
of the following:
a) online using the institution’s learning management system
“BPC eLearning”
b) modular (print out or in flash disk for pick up or courier/drop
box).
2. The rule on failing mark for 20% unexcused absences cannot be
enforced due to allowed flexible schedule during this time of pandemic
instead a student has to be mindful of the required pre-scheduled
submission/compliance of the requirements.
3. Assessment of learning shall be done for every module; however, there
shall be two summative tests that a student needs to undergo before

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the semester ends. For a student who opted to have summative exam
online, it has to be real time and there should be somebody who
would video him/her to prove that he/she is really the one answering
the test. However, if there is no more community quarantine, the
summative exam shall be done by batch and in school.
4. Mid-Term and Final Exams shall be given only to students who have
completely or partially settled their accounts for the specified period.
5. Student will be held responsible for all assignments and requirements
missed for the entire content on the course regardless of the mode of
learning he/she has chosen.
6. Only students officially enrolled in the course will be allowed to attend
the class.
7. The professor is not obliged to give a special or late test to any student
who fails to take an examination at the scheduled time, except upon
presentation of any certificate (e.g. medical certificate, etc.), or excuse
letter scrutinized by the subject teacher in terms of its veracity.
8. When given a grade of INC. (Incomplete), the student shall complete
the grade within one year; otherwise, a grade of 5.0 will be given
automatically by the registrar.

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Readings in Philippine History
MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
Introduction to History: Definition, Issues,
1. Hist 213-1
Sources, and Methodology
Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary
2 Hist 213-2
Sources in Philippine History
Philippine History: Spaces for Conflict and
3 Controversies Hist 213-3
Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take

4 Hist 213-4
Place in the Philippines?
5 Case Study 2: What Happened in the Cavite Mutiny? Hist 213-5
6 Case Study 3: Did Rizal Retract? Hist 213-6

Case Study 4: Where Did the Cry of Rebellion
7 Happen? Hist 213-7
8 1897: Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato Hist 213-8
9 1899: Malolos Constitution Hist 213-9
10 1935: The Commonwealth Constitution Hist 213-10
11 1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism Hist 213-11
12 1987: Constitution After the Martial Law Hist 213-12
13 Policies on Agrarian Reform Hist 213-13
14 Evolution of Philippine Tax Hist 213-14

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Introduction to History:
Definition, Issues, Sources, and Methodology

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MODULE CONTENT
COURSE TITLE: Readings in Philippine History
MODULE TITLE: Introduction to History: Definition, Issues,

Sources, and Methodology
NOMINAL DURATION: 3 hours
SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

At the end of this module you MUST be able to:
 Evaluate primary sources for their credibility, authenticity, and
provenance
TOPIC:
1. Definition and Subject Matter
2. Questions and Issues in History
3. History and the Historian
4. Historical Resources
ASSESSMENT METHOD/S:
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
“Readings in Philippine History” by John Lee P. Candelaria and
Veronica C. Alporha, pp. 1-12
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=philippine-history-
101-midterm
http://sfwallpaper.com/categories/philippine-wallpaper.html

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Information Sheet Hist 213-1
The Meaning and Relevance of History
Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
 To understand the meaning of history as an academic discipline and to
be familiar with the underlying philosophy and methodology of the
discipline.
 To apply the knowledge in historical methodology and philosophy in
assessing and analyzing existing historical narratives.
 To examine and assess critically the value of historical evidences and
sources.
 To appreciate the importance of history in the social and national life of
the Philippines.
Introduction:
This chapter introduces history as a discipline and as a narrative. It

presents the definition of history, which transcends the common definition
of history as the study of the past. This chapter also discusses several
issues in history that consequently opens up for the theoretical aspects of
the discipline. The distinction of primary and secondary sources is also
discussed in relation to the historical subject matter being studied and the
historical methodology employed by the historian. Ultimately, this chapter
also tackles the task of the historian as the arbiter of facts and evidences in
making his interpretation and forming historical narrative.
Definition and Subject Matter
History was derived from the Greek word historia which means
“knowledge acquired through inquiry and investigation.” This term was then
adapted to classical Latin where it acquired a new definition. Historia
became known as the account of the past of a person or a group of people
through written documents and historical evidences. History became an
important academic discipline. It became the historian’s duty to write about
the lives of important individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and
nobilities. History was also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and
other important breakthroughs. It is thus important to ask: What counts as
history? Traditional historians lived with the mantra of “no document, no

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history.” It means that unless a written document can prove a certain
historical event, then it cannot be considered as historical fact.
But as any other academic disciplines, history progressed and opened
up to the possibility of valid historical sources, which were not limited to
written documents, like government records, chronicler’s accounts or
personal letters. Giving premium to written documents essentially
invalidates the history of other civilizations that do not keep written records.
Some were keener on passing their history by word of mouth. Others got
their historical documents burned or destroyed in the events of war and
colonization. Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is also
discrimination against other social classes who were not recorded in paper.
Nobilities, monarchs, the elite, and even the middle class would have their
birth, education, marriage, and death as matters of government and
historical record. But what of peasant families or indigenous groups who
were not given much thought about being registered to government records?
Does the absence of written documents about them mean that they were
people of no history or past? Did they even exist?
This loophole was recognized by historians who started using of epics
and songs, g other kinds of historical sources, which may not be in written
form but were just as valid. A few of these examples are oral traditions in
forms in forms of epics and songs, artifacts, architecture, and memory.
History thus became more inclusive and started collaborating with other
disciplines as its auxiliary disciplines. With the aid of the archaeologists,
historians can use artifacts from a bygone era to study ancient civilizations
that were formerly ignored in history because of lack of documents.
Linguists can also be helpful in tracing historical evolutions, past
connections among different groups, and flow of cultural influence by
studying language and the changes that it has undergone. Even scientists
like biologists and biochemists can help with the study of the past through
analyzing genetic and DNA patterns of human societies.
Questions and Issues in History
Indeed, history as a discipline has already turned into a complex and

dynamic inquiry. This dynamism inevitably produced various perspectives
on the discipline regarding different questions like: What is history? Why
study history? And history for whom? These questions can be answered by
historiography. In simple terms, historiography is the history of history.
History and historiography should not be confused with each other. The
former’s object of study is the past, the events that happened in the past,
and the causes of such events. The latter’s object of study, on the other
hand, is history itself (i.e., How was a certain historical text written? Who
wrote it? What was the context of its publication? What particular historical
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method was employed? What were the sources used?). Thus, historiography
lets the students have a better understanding of history. Historiography is
important for someone who studies history because it teaches the student to
be critical in the lessons of history presented to him.
History has played various roles in the past. States use history to
unite a nation. It can be used as a tool to legitimize regimes and forge a
sense of collective identity through collective memory. Lessons from the past
can be used to make sense of the present. Learning of past mistakes can
help people to not repeat them. Being reminded of a great past can inspire
people to keep their good practices to move forward.
Positivism is the school of thought that emerged between the eighteenth
and nineteenth century. This thought requires empirical and observable
evidence before one can claim that a particular knowledge is true.
Positivism also entails an objective means of arriving at a conclusion. In
the discipline of history, the mantra “no document, no history” stems from
this very same truth, where historians were required to show written
primary documents in order to write a particular historical narrative.
Positivist historians are also expected to be objective and impartial not just
in their arguments but also on their conduct of historical research.
As a narrative, any history that has been taught and written is always
intended for a certain group of audience. When the ilustrados, like Jose
Rizal, Isabelo de los Reyes, and Pedro Paterno wrote history, they intended it
for the Spaniards so that they would realize that Filipinos are people of their
own intellect and culture. When American historians depicted the Filipino
people as uncivilized in their publications, they intended that narrative for
their fellow Americans to justify their colonization of the islands. They
wanted the colonization to appear not as a means of undermining the
Philippines’s sovereignty, but as a civilizing mission to fulfill what they
called as the “white man’s burden.” The same is true for nations which
prescribe official versions of their history like North Korea, The Nazi
Germany during the war period, and Thailand. The same was attempted by
Marcos in the Philippines during the 1970s.
Post colonialism is the school of thought that emerged in the early
twentieth century when formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea
of creating their identities and understanding their societies against the
shadows of their colonial past. Post-colonial history looks at two things in
writing history: first is to tell the history of their nation that will highlight
their identity free from that of colonial discourse and knowledge, and
second is to criticize the methods, the effects, and idea of colonialism. Post-
colonial history is therefore a reaction and an alternative to the colonial
history that colonial powers created and taught to their subjects.

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One of the problems confronted by history is the accusation that the
history is always written by victors. This connotes that the narrative of the
past is always written from the bias of the powerful and the more dominant
player. For instance, the history of the Second World War in the Philippines
always depicts the United States as the hero and the Imperial Japanese
Army as the oppressors. Filipinos who collaborated with the Japanese were
lumped in the category of traitors or collaborators. However, a more
thorough historical investigation will reveal a more nuanced account of the
history of that period instead of a simplified narrative as a story of hero
versus villain.
History and the Historian
If history is written with agenda or is heavily influenced by the
historian, is it possible to come up with an absolute historical truth? I s
history an objective discipline? If it is not, is it still worthwhile to study
history? These questions have haunted historians for many generations.
Post colonialism
Indeed, an exact andisaccurate
the school of thought
account that
of the past emerged inforthe
is impossible theearly
very
twentieth
simple century
reason that when formerly
we cannot colonized
go back nations
to the past. grappled
We cannot with the idea
access the
of creating
past directlytheir
as identities and understanding
our subject their only
matter. Historians societies
get against the
to access
shadows of their
representation colonial
of the past. Post
past through colonialsources
historical historyand
looks at two things in
evidences.
writing history: first is to tell the history of their nation that will highlight
Therefore, it is the historian’s job not just to seek historical evidences
their identity free from that of colonial discourse and knowledge, and
and facts but also to interpret these facts. “Facts cannot speak for
second is to criticize the methods, the effects, and idea of colonialism. Post
themselves.” It is the job of the historian to give meaning to these facts and
colonial history is therefore a reaction and an alternative to the colonial
organize them into a timeline, establish causes, and write history.
history that colonial powers created and taught to their subjects.
Meanwhile, the historian is not a blank paper who mechanically interprets
and analyzes present historical fact. He is a person of his own who is
influenced by his own context, environment, ideology, education, and
influences, among others. In that sense, his interpretation of the historical
fact is affected by his context and circumstances. His subjectivity will
inevitably influence the process of his historical research: the methodology
that he will use, the facts that he shall select and deem relevant, his
interpretation, and even the form of his writings. Thus, in one way or
another, history is always subjective. If that is so, can history still be
considered as an academic and scientific inquiry?
Historical research requires rigor. Despite the fact that historians
cannot ascertain absolute objectivity, the study of history remains scientific
because of the rigor of research and methodology that historians employ.
Historical methodology comprises certain techniques and rules that
historians follow in order to properly utilize sources and historical evidences
in writing history. Certain rules apply in cases of conflicting accounts in
different sources, and on how to properly treat eyewitness accounts and oral

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sources as valid historical evidence. In doing so, historical claims done by
historians and the arguments that they forwarded in their historical writings
while may be influenced by the historian’s inclinations, can still be validated
by using reliable evidences and employing correct and meticulous historical
methodology.
The Annales School of History is a school of history born in France that

challenged the canons of history. This school of thought did away with the
common historical subjects that were almost always related to the conduct
of states and monarchs. Annales scholars like Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch,
Fernand Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff studied other subjects in a
historical manner. They were concerned with social history and studied
longer historical periods. For example, Annales scholars studied the history
of peasantry, the history of medicine, or even the history of environment.
The history from below was pioneered by the same scholars. They
advocated that the people and classes who were not reflected in the history
of the society in the grand manner be provided with space in the records of
mankind. In doing this, Annales thinkers married history with other
disciplines like geography, anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics.
For example, if a historian chooses to use an oral account as his data

in studying the ethnic history of the Ifugaos in the Cordilleras during the
American Occupation, he needs to validate the claims of his informant
through comparing and corroborating it with written sources. Therefore,
while bias is inevitable, the historian can balance this out by relying to
evidences that back up his claim. In this sense, the historian need not let
his bias blind his judgment and such bias are only acceptable if he
maintains his rigor as a researcher.
Historical Sources
With the past as history’s subject matter, the historian’s most
important research tools are historical sources. In general, historical
sources can be classified between primary and secondary sources. The
classification of sources between these two categories depends on the
historical subject being studied. Primary Sources are those sources
produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied.
For example, if a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution
Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include the minutes of the
convention, newspaper clippings, Philippine Commission reports of the U.S.
Commissioners, records of the convention, the draft of the Constitution, and
even photographs of the event. Eyewitness accounts of convention delegates

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and their memoirs can also be used as primary sources. The same goes with
other subjects of historical study. Archival documents, artifacts,
memorabilia, letters, census, and government records, among others are the
most common examples of primary sources.
On the other hand, secondary sources are those sources, which were
produced by an author who used primary sources to produce the material.
In other words, secondary sources are historical sources, which studied a
certain historical subject. For example, on the subject of the Philippine
Revolution of 1896, students can read Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of the
Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan published originally in
1956. The Philippine Revolution happened in the last years of the
nineteenth century while Agoncillo published his work in 1956, which
makes the Revolt of the Masses a secondary source. More than this, in
writing th ebook, Agoncillo used primary sources with his research like
documents of the Katipunan, interview with the veterans of the Revolution,
and correspondence between and among Katipuneros.
However, a student should not be confused about what counts as a
primary or a secondary source. As mentioned above, the classification of
sources between primary and secondary depends not on the period when
the source was produced or the type of the source but on the subject of the
historical research. For example, a textbook is usually classified as a
secondary source, a tertiary source even. However, this classification is
usual but not automatic. If a historian chooses to write the history of
education in the 1980s, he can utilize textbooks used in that period as a
primary source. I f a historian wishes to study the historiography of the
Filipino-American War for example, he can use works of different authors on
the topic as his primary source as well.
Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and
learning history. However, historians and students of history need to
thoroughly scrutinize these historical sources to avoid deception and come
up with the historical truth. The historian should be able to conduct an
external and internal criticism of the source, especially primary sources
which can age in centuries. External criticism is the practice of verifying
the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical characteristics;
consistency with the historical characteristics of the time when it was
produced; and the materials used for the evidence. Examples of the things
that will be examined when conducting external criticism of a document
include the quality of the paper, the type of the ink, and the languages and
words used in the material, among others.
Internal criticism, on the other hand, is the examination of the
truthfulness of the evidence, it looks at the content of the source and
examines the circumstances of its production. Internal criticism looks at the
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truthfulness and factuality of the evidence by looking at the author of the
source, its context, the agenda behind its creation, the knowledge which
informed it, and its intended purpose, among others. For example, Japanese
reports and declarations during the period of the war should not be taken as
a historical fact hastily. Internal criticism entails that the historian
acknowledges and analyze how such reports can be manipulated to be used
as war propaganda. Validating historical sources is important because the
use of unverified, falsified, and untruthful historical sources can lead to
equally false conclusions. Without thorough criticisms of historical
evidences, historical deceptions and lies will be highly probable.
One of the most scandalous cases of deception in Philippine history is
the hoax Code of Kalantiaw. The code was a set of rules contained in an
epic, Maragtas, which was allegedly written by a certain Datu Kalantiaw.
The document was sold to the National Library and was regarded as an
important precolonial document until 1968, when American historian
William Henry Scott debunked the authenticity of the code due to
anachronism and lack of evidence to prove that the code existed in the
precolonial Philippine society. Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that he was a
decorated World War II soldier who led a guerilla unit called Ang
Maharlika.
This was widely believed by students of history and Marcos had war medals
to show. This claim, however, was disproven when historians counter
checked Marcos’s claims with the war records of the United States. These
cases prove how deceptions can propagate without rigorous historical
research.
The task of the historian is to look at the available sources and select
the most relevant and meaningful for history and for the subject matter that
he is studying. History, like other academic discipline, has come a long way
but still has a lot of remaining tasks to do. It does not claim to render
absolute and exact judgement because as long as questions are
continuously asked, and as long as time unfolds, the study of history can
never be complete. The task of the historian is to organize the past that is
being created so that it can offer lessons for nations, societies, and
civilization. It is the historian’s job to seek for the meaning of recovering the
past to let the people see the continuing relevance of provenance, memory,
remembering, and historical understanding for both the present and the
future.
Philippine historiography underwent several changes since the precolonial

period until the present. Ancient Filipinos narrated their history through
communal songs and epics that they passed orally from a generation to
another. When the Spaniards came, their chroniclers started recording
their observations through written accounts. The perspective of historical
writing and inquiry also shifted. The Spanish
Bulacan colonizers narrated the
Date Developed:
Bachelor
history of their of in Polytechni
colony July 2020
a bipartite view. They saw thePage age15before
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Management
brought light through Western
Readings in College thought and Christianity. Early
nationalists refuted this perspective
Philippine History Documentand Developed
argued theby: tripartite view. They
saw the precolonial
Hist 213society as
No.a luminous age
Farrah that
Mae S.ended
Santos with darkness
Revision # 00
when the colonizers captured their freedom. They believed that the light
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would come again once the colonizers were evicted from the Philippines.
Filipino historian Zeus Salazar introduced the new guiding philosophy for
writing and teaching history: pantayong pananaw (for us- from our
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MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
Introduction to History: Definition, Issues, Sources,
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected
2 Hist 213-2
Primary Sources in Philippine History

4 Hist 213-4


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Content and Contextual
Analysis of Selected Primary

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected
Primary Sources in Philippine History

 Analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of
primary sources;
 Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in

understanding Philippine history;
 Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources;
TOPIC:
1. A Brief Summary of the First Voyage Around the World by Magellan by

Antonio Pigafetta
2. The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
3. Reading the “Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”
4. Revisiting Corazon Aquino’s Speech Before the U.S. Congress
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
Readings in Philippine History by John Lee P. Candelaria and
https://edu.glogster.com/glog/ells-and-social-studies-using-primary-
sources/1j4cv0mcstt
http://blog.geogarage.com/2019/07/the-travel-guide-that-charted-our-
world.html

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https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/37006/les-isles-philippines-and-
islas-de-los-ladrones-ou-isle-de-sanson
Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources in
Philippine History
 To familiarize oneself with the primary documents in different historical
periods of the Philippines.
 To learn history through primary resources.
 To properly interpret primary sources through examining the content
and context of the document.
 To understand the context behind each selected document.
Introduction:
In the proceeding chapter, we have discussed the importance of
familiarizing oneself about the different kinds of historical sources. The
historian’s primary tool of understanding and interpreting the past is the
historical sources.
In this chapter, we are going to look at a number of primary sources
from different historical periods and evaluate these documents’ contents in
terms of historical value, and examine the context of their production. The
primary sources that we are going to examine are Antonio Pigafetta’s First
Voyage Around the World, Emilio Jacinto’s “Kartilya ng Katipunan,” the
1898 Declaration of Philippine Independence, and Corazon Aquino’s speech
before the U.S. Congress. These primary sources range from chronicles,
official documents, and speeches. Needless to say, different types of sources
necessitate different kinds of analysis and contain different levels of
importance. We are going to explore that in this chapter.
A Brief Summary of the First Voyage Around the World by Magellan by
Antonio Pigafetta.
This book was taken from the chronicles of contemporary voyagers
and navigators of the sixteenth century. One of them was Italian nobleman
Antonio Pigafetta, who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in his fateful
circumnavigation of the world. Pigafetta’s work instantly became a classic
that prominent literary men in the West like William Shakespeare, Michel de
Montaigne, and Giambattista Vico referred to the book in their
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interpretation of the New World. Pigafetta’s travelogue is one of the most
important primary sources in the study of the precolonial Philippines. His
account was also a major referent to the events leading to Magellan’s arrival
in the Philippines, his encounter with the local leaders, his death in the
hands of Lapulapu’s forces in the Battle of Mactan, and in the departure of
what was left of Magellan’s fleet from the islands.
Examining the document reveals several insights not just in the

character of the Philippines during the precolonial period, but also on how
the fresh eyes of the Europeans regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain,
environment, people, and culture. Locating Pigafetta’s account in the
context of its writing warrants a familiarity on the dominant frame of mind
in the age of exploration, which pervaded Europe in the fifteenth and
sixteenth century. Students of history need to realize that primary sources
used in the subsequent written histories depart from certain perspectives.
Thus, Pigafetta’s account was also written from the perspective of Pigafetta
himself and was a product of the context of its production. The First Voyage
Around the World by Magellan was published after Pigafetta returned to
Italy.
In Pigafetta’s account, their fleet reached what he called the Ladrones
Islands or the “Islands of the Thieves.” He recounted:
“These people have no arms, but use sticks, which have a fish
bone at the end. They are poor, but ingenious, and great thieves, and

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for the sake of that we called these three islands the Ladrones
Islands.”
The Ladrones Islands is presently known as the Marianas Islands.

These islands are located south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of
Hawaii, north of New Guinea, and east of Philippines. Ten days after they
reached Ladrones Islands, Pigafetta reported that they reached what
Pigafetta called the isle of Zamal, now Samar but Magellan decided to land
in another uninhabited island for greater security where they could rest for
a few days. Pigafetta recounted that after two days, March 18, nine men
came to them and showed joy and eagerness in seeing them. Magellan
realized that the men were reasonable and welcomed them with food,
drinks, and gifts. In turn, the natives gave them fish, palm wine(uraca), figs,
and two cochos. The natives also gave them rice (umai), cocos, and other

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food supplies. Pigafetta detailed in amazement and fascination the palm tree
which bore fruits called cacho, and wine. He also described what seemed
like a coconut. His description reads:
“This palm produces a fruit named cosho, which is as large as the
head, or thereabouts: its first husk is green, and two fingers in thickness, in
it they find certain threads, with which they make the cords for fastening
their boasts. Under this husk there is another very hard, and thicker than
that of a walnut. They burn this second rind, and make it with a powder
which is useful to them. Under this rind, there is a white marrow of a
finger’s thickness, which they eat fresh with meat and fish, as we do bread,
and it has the taste of an almond, and if anyone dried it he might make
bread of it (p. 72).”
Pigafetta characterized the people as very “familiar and friendly” and
willingly showed them different islands and the names of these isalnds. The
fleet went to Humunu Island (Homonhon) and there they found what
Pigafetta referred to as the “Watering Place of Good Signs.” It is in this place
where Pigafetta wrote that they found the first signs of gold in the island.
They named the island with the nearby islands as the archipelago of St.
Lazarus. They left the island, then on March 25th, Pigafetta recounted that
they saw two ballanghai (balangay), a long boat full of people in Mazzava/
Mazaua. The leader, who Pigafetta referred to as the king of the ballanghai,
sent his men to the ship of Magellan. The Europeans entertained these men
and gave them gifts. When the king of the balangay offered to give Magellan
a bar of gold and a chest of ginger, Magellan declined. Magelllan sent the
interpreter to the king and asked for money for the needs of his ships and
expressed that he came into the islands as a friend and not as an enemy.
The king responded by giving Magellan the needed provisions of food in
chinaware. Magellan exchanged gifts of robes in Turkish fashion, red cap,
and gave the people knives and mirrors. The two then expressed their desire
to become brothers. Magellan also boasted of his men in armor who could
not be struck with swords and daggers. The king was fascinated and
remarked that men in such armor could be worth one hundred of his men.
Magellan further showed the king his other weapons, helmets, and
artilleries. Magellan also shared with the king his charts and maps and
shared how they found the islands.
After a few days, Magellan was introduced to the king’s brother who
was also a king of another island. They went to this island and Pigafetta
reported that they saw mines of gold. The gold was abundant that parts of
the ship and of the house of the second king were made of gold. Pigafetta
described this king as the most handsome of all the men that he saw in this
place.He was also adorned with silk and gold accessories like a golden
dagger, which he carried with him in a wooden polished sheath. This king

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was named Raia Calambu, king of Zuluan and Calagan (Butuan and
Caragua), and the first king was Raia Siagu. On March 31 st, which
happened to Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered the chaplain to preside a
Mass by the shore. The king heard of this plan and sent two dead pigs and
attended the Mass with the other king. Pigafetta reported that both kings
participated in the Mass. He wrote:
“...when the offertory of the mass came, the two kings, went to
kiss the cross like us, but they offered nothing, and at the elevation of
the body of the Lord they were kneeling like us, and adored our Lord
with joined hands.”
After the Mass, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought with nails
and crown in place. Magellan explained that the cross, the nail, and the
crown were the signs of his emperor and that he was ordered to plant it in
the places that he would reach. Magellan further explained that the cross
would be beneficial for their people because once other Spaniards saw this
cross, then they would know that they had been in this land and would not
cause them troubles, and any person who might be held captives by them
would be released. The king concurred and allowed for the cross to be
planted. This Mass would go down in history as the first Mass in the
Philippines, and the cross would be the famed Magellan’s Cross still
preserved at present day.
After seven days, Magellan and his men decided to move and look for
islands where they could acquire more supplies and provisions. They
learned of the isalnds of Ceylon (Leyte), Bohol, and Zubu (Cebu) and
intended to go there. Raia Calambu offered to pilot them in going to Cebu,
the largest and the richest of the islands. By April 7 th of the same year,
Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu. The king of Cebu, through
Magellan’s interpreter, demanded that they pay tribute as it was customary,
but Magellan refused. Magellan said that he was a captain of a king himself
and thus would not pay tribute to other kings. Magellan’s interpreter
explained to the king of Cebu that Magellan’s king was the emperor of a
great empire and that it would do them better to make friends with them
than to forge enmity. The king of Cebu consulted his council. By the next
day, Magellan’s men and the king of Cebu, together with other principal men
of Cebu, met in an open space. There, the king offered a bit of his blood and
demanded that Magellan do the same. Pigafetta recounts:
“Then the king said that he was content, and as a greater sign
of affection he sent him a little of his blood from his right arm, and
wished he should do the like. Our people answered that he would do
it. Besides that, he said that all the captains who came to his country
had been accustomed to make a present to him, and he to them, and
therefore they should ask their captain if he would observe the
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custom. Our people answered that he would; but as the king wished to
keep up the custom, let him begin and make a. present, and then the
captain would do his duty”
The following day, Magellan spoke before the people of Cebu about
peace and God. Pigafetta reported that the people took pleasure in
Magellan’s speech. Magellan then asked the people who would succeed the
king after his reign and the people responded that the eldest child of the
king, who happened to be a daughter, would be the next in line. Pigafetta
also related how the people talked about, how at old age, parents were no
longer taken into account and had to follow orders of their children as the
new leaders of the land. Magellan responded to this by saying that his faith
entailed children to render honor and obedience to their parents. Magellan
preached about their faith further and people were reportedly convinced.
Pigafetta wrote that their men were overjoyed seeing that the people wished
to become Christians through their free will and not because they were
forced or intimidated.
On the 14th of April, the people gathered with the king and other
pincipal men of the islands. Magellan spoke to the king and encouraged him
to be a good Christian by burning all of the idols and worship the cross
instead. The king of Cebu was then baptized as a Christian. Pigafetta wrote:
“To that the king and all his people answered that they would
obey the commands of the captain and do all that he told them. The
captain took the king by the hand, and they walked about on the
scaffolding, and when he was baptized he said that he would name
him Don Charles (Carlos), as the emperor his sovereign was named;
and he named the prince Don Fernand (Fernando), after the brother of
the emperor, and the King of Mazavva, Jehan: to the Moor he gave the
name of Christopher, and to the others each a name of his fancy.”
After eight days, Pigafetta counted that all of the island’s inhabitant
were already baptized. He admitted that they burned a village down for
obeying neither the king nor Magellan. The Mass was conducted by the
shore every day. When the queen came to the Mass one day, Magellan gave
her an image of the Infant Jesus made by Pigafetta himself. The king of
Cebu swore that he would always be faithful to Magellan. When Magellan
reiterated that all of the newly baptized Christians need to burn their idols,
but the natives gave excuses telling Magellan that they needed the idols to
heal a sick man who was a relative to the king. Magellan insisted that they
should instead put their faith in Jesus Christ. They went to the sick man
and baptized him. After the baptismal, Pigafetta recorded that the man was
able to speak again. He called this is a miracle.
On the 26th of April, Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan
(Mactan) went to see Magellan and asked him for a boat full of men so that
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he would be able to fight the chief named Silapulapu (Lapulapu). Such chief,
according to Zula, refused to obey the king and was also preventing him
from doing so. Magellan offered three boats instead and expressed his desire
to go to Mactan himself to fight the said chief. Magellan’s forces arrived in
Mactan in daylight. They numbered 49 in total and the islanders of Mactan
were estimated to number 1,500. The battle began. Pigafetta recounted:
“When we reached land, we found the islanders fifteen hundred
in number, drawn up in three squadrons; they came down upon us
with terrible shouts, two squadrons attacking us on the flanks, and
the third in front. The captain then divided his men in two bands. Our
musketeers and crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance,
but did nothing, since the bullets and arrows, though they passed
through their shields made of thin wood, and perhaps wounded their
arms, yet did not stop them. The captain shouted not to fire, but he
was not listened to. The islanders seeing that the shots of our guns
did them little or no harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly,
and springing from one side to the other to avoid our shots, they at
the same time drew nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelin, spears
hardened in fire, stones, and even mud, so that we could hardly
defend ourselves. Some of them cast lances pointed with iron at the
captain-general.”
Magellan died in that battle. The natives, perceiving that the bodies of
the enemies were protected with armors, aimed for their legs instead.
Magellan was pierced with a poison arrow in his right leg. A few of their man
charged at the natives and tried to intimidate them by burning an entire
village but this only enraged the natives further. Magellan was specially
targeted because the natives knew that he was the captain general.
Magellan was hit with a lance in the face. Magellan retaliated and pierced
the same native with his lance in the breast and tried to draw his sword but
could not lift it because of his wounded arm. Seeing that the captain has
already deteriorated, more natives came to attack him. One native with a
great sword delivered a blow in Magellan’s left leg, brought him face down
and the natives ceaselessly attacked Magellan with lances, swords, and even
with their bare hands. Pigafetta recounted the last moments of Magellan:
“Whilst the Indians were thus empowering him, several times he
turns toward us to see if we were all in safety, as though his
obstinate fight had no other object than to give an opportunity for the
retreat of his men.”
Pigafetta also said that the king of Cebu who was baptized could have
sent help but Magellan instructed him not to join the battle and stay in the
balangay so that he would see how they fought. The king offered the people
of Mactan gifts of any value and amount in exchange of Magellan’s body but
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the chief refused. They wanted to keep Magellan’s body as a memento of
their victory.
Magellan’s men elected Duarte Barbosa as the new captain. Pigafetta
also told how Magellan’s slave and interpreter named Henry betrayed them
and told the king of Cebu that they intended to leave as quickly as possible.
Pigafetta alleged that the slave told the king that if he followed the slave’s
advice, then the king could acquire the ships and the goods of Magellan’s
fleet. The two conspired and betrayed what was left of Magellan’s men. The
king invited these men to a gathering where he said he would present the
jewels that he would send for the King of Spain. Pigafetta was not able to
join the twenty-four men who attended because he was nursing his battle
wounds. It was only a short time when they heard cries and lamentations.
The natives had slain all of the men except the interpreter and Juan Serrano
who was already wounded. Serrano was presented and shouted at the men
in the ship asking them to pay ransom so he would be spared. However,
they refused and would not allow anyone to go to the shore. The fleet
departed and abandoned Serrano. They left Cebu and continued their
journey around the world.
Analysis of Pigafetta’s Chronicle

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https://www.roughdiplomacy.com/ferdinand-magellan/
The chronicle of Pigafetta was one of the most cited documents by
historians who wished to study the precolonial Philippines. As one of the
earliest written accounts, Pigafetta was seen as a credible source for a
period, which was prior unchronicled and undocumented. Moreover, being
the earliest detailed documentation, it was believed that Pigafetta’s writings
account for the “purest” precolonial society. Indeed, Pigafetta’s work is of
great importance in the study and writing of Philippine History.
Nevertheless, there needs to have a more nuanced reading of the source
within a contextual backdrop. A student of history should recognize certain
biases accompanying the author and his identity, loyalties, and the
circumstances that he was in; and how it affected the text that he produced.
In the case of Pigafetta, the reader needs to understand that he was a
chronicler commissioned by the King of Spain to accompany and document
a voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire. He was also of noble
descent who came fro a rich family in Italy. These attributes influenced his
narrative, his selection of details to be included in the text, his
characterization of the people and of the species he encountered, and his
interpretation and retelling of the events. Being a scholar of cartography and
geopgraphy, Pigafetta was able to give details on geography and climate of
the places their voyage has reached.
In reading Pigafetta’s description of the people, one has to keep in
mind that he was coming from a sixteenth century European perspective.
Hence, the reader might notice how Pigafetta, whether implicitly or
explicitly, regarded the indigenous belief systems and the way of life as
inferior to that of Christianity and of the Europeans. He would always
remark on the nakedness of the natives or how he was fascinated by their
exotic culture. Pigafetta also noticeably emphasized the native’s amazement
and illiteracy to the European artillery, merchandise, and other goods, in
the same way that Pigafetta repeatedly mentioned the abundance of spices
like ginger, and of precious metals like gold. His observations and
assessments of the indigenous cultures employed the European standards.
Hence, when they saw the indigenous attires of the natives, Pigafetta saw
them as being naked because from the European standpoint, they were
wearing fewer clothes indeed. Pigafetta’s perspective was too narrow to
realize that such attire was only appropriate to the tropical climate of the
islands. The same was true for materials that the natives used for their
houses and compensate for the hot climate in the islands.
It should be understood that such observations were rooted from the
context of Pigafetta and of his era. Europe, for example, was dominated by
the Holy Roman Empire, whose loyalty and purpose was the domination of
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Catholic Church all over the world. Hence, other belief system different fro
that of Christianity were perceived to be blasphemous and barbaric, even
demonic. Aside from this, the sixteenth century European economy was
mercantilist. Such system measures the wealth of kingdoms based on their
accumulation of bullions or precious metals like gold and silver. It was not
surprising therefore that Pigafetta would always mention the abundance of
gold in the islands as shown in his description of leaders wearing gold rings
and golden daggers, and of the rich gold mines. An empire like that of the
Spain would indeed search for new lands where they could acquire more
gold and wealth to be on top of all the European nations. The obsession with
spices might be odd for Filipinos because of its ordinariness in the
Philippines, but understanding the context would reveal that spices were
scarce in Europe and hence were seen as prestige goods. In that era, Spain
and Portugal coveted the control of Spice Islands because it would have led
to a certain increase in wealth, influence, and power. These contexts should
be used and understood in order to have a more qualified reading of
Pigafetta’s accoun't.
The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
https://www.esquiremag.ph/the-good-life/pursuits/magnificent-
september-auctions-2018-leon-gallery-a1957-20180902-lfrm
The Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak
ng Bayan (KKK) or Katipunan is arguably the most important organization
formed in the Philipppine history. While anti-colonial movements, efforts,
and organizations had already been established centuries prior to the
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foundation of the Katipunan, it was only this organization that envisioned
(1) a united Filipino nation that would revolt against the Spaniards for (2)
the total independence of the country from Spain. Previous armed revolts
had already occurred before the foundation of the Katipunan, but none of
them envisioned a unified Filipino nation revolting against the colonizers.
For example, Diego Silang was known as an Ilocano who took up his arms
and led one of the longest running revolts in the country. Silang, however,
was mainly concerned about his locality and referred to himslef as El Rey
de Ilocos (The KIng of Ilocos). The imagination of the nationwas largely
absent in the aspirations of the local revolts before Katipunan. On the other
hand, the propaganda movements led by the ilustrados like Marcelo H. del
Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and Jose Rizal did not envisoned a total
separation of the Philippines from Spain, but only demanded equal rights,
representation, and protection from the abuses of friars.
In the conduct of their struggle, Katipunan created a complex
structure and a defined value system that would guide the organization as a
collective aspiring for a single goal. One of the most important Katipunan
documents was the Kartilya ng Katipunan. The original title of the document
as “Manga [sic] Aral Nang [sic] Katipunan ng mga A.N.B.” or “Lessons of the
Organizations of the Sons of Country.” The document was written by Emilio
Jacinto in the 1896. Jacinto was only 18 years old when he joined the
movement. He was a law student at the Unibersidad de Santo Tomas.
Despite his youth, Bonifacio recognized the value and intellect of Jacinto
that upon seeing that Jacinto’s Kartilya was much better than the
Decalogue he wrote, he willingly favored that the Kartilya be distributed to
their fellow Katipuneros, Jacinto became the secretary of the organization
and took charge of the short-lived printing press of the Katipunan. On 15
April 1897, Bonifacio appointed Jacinto as a commander of the Katipunan I
Northern Luzon. Jacinto was 22 years old. He died of Malaria at a young age
of 24 in the town of Magdalena, Laguna.
The Kartilya can be treated as the Katipunan’s code of conduct. It
contains fourteen rules that instruct the wasy a Katipunero should behave,
and which specific values should he uphold. Generally, the rules stated in
the Kartilya can be classified into two. The first group contains the rules
that will make the member an upright inidvidual and the second group
contains the rules that will guide the way he treats his fellow men.
Below is the translated version of the rules in Kartilya:
I. The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and reasonable purpose is a tree
without a shade, if not a poisonous weed.
II. To do good for personal gain and not for its own sake is not virtue.

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III. It is rational to be charitable and love one’s fellow creature, and to adjust
one’s conduct, acts and words to what is in itself reasonable.
IV. Whether our skin be black or white, we are all born equal: superiority in
knowledge, wealth and beauty are to be understood, but not superiority by
nature.
V. The honorable man prefers honor to personal gain; the scoundrel, gain to
honor.
VI. To the honorable man, his word is sacred.
VII. Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.
VIII. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in the
field.
IX. The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.
X. On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman and the children,
and if the guide leads to the precipice, those whom he guides will also go
there.
XI. Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a faithful
companion who will share with thee the penalties of life; her (physical)
weakness will increase thy interest in her and she will remind thee of the
mother who bore thee and reared thee.
XII. What thou dost not desire done unto thy wife, children, brothers and
sisters, that do not unto the wife, children, brothers and sisters of thy
neighbor.
XIII. Man is not worth more because he is a king, because his nose is
aquiline, and his color white, not because he is a priest, a servant of God,
nor because of the high prerogative that he enjoys upon earth, but he is
worth most who is a man of proven and real value, who does good, keeps his
words, is worthy and honest; he who does not oppress nor consent to being
oppressed, he who loves and cherishes his fatherland, though he be born in
the wilderness and know no tongue but his own.
XIV. When these rules of conduct shall be known to all, the longed- for sun
of Liberty shall rise brilliant over this most unhappy portion of the globe and
its rays shall diffuse everlasting joy among the confederated brethren of the
same rays, the lives of those who have gone before, the fatigues and the
well-paid sufferings will remain, If he who desires to enter has informed
himself of all this and believes he will be able to perform what will be his
duties, he may fill out the application for admission.
As the primary governing document, which determines the rules of
conduct in Katipunan, properly understanding the Kartilya will thus help in

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understanding the values, ideals, aspirations, and even the ideology of the
organization.
Analysis of the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
Similar to what we have done to the accounts of Pigafetta, this
primary source also needs to be analyzed in terms of content and context.
As a document written for a fraternity whose main purpose is to overthrow a
colonial regime, we can explain the content and provisions of the Kartilya as
a reaction and response to certain value systems that they found despicable
in the present state of things that they struggled against with. For example,
the fourth and the thirteenth rules in the Kartilya are an invocation of the
inherent equality between and among men regardless of race, occupation, or
status. In the context of the Spanish colonial era where the indios were
treated as the inferior of the white Europeans, the Katipunan saw to it that
the alternative order that they wished to promulgate through their
revolution necessarily destroyed this kind of unjust hierarchy.
Moreover, one can analyze the values upheld in the document as
consistent with the burgeoning rational and liberal ideals in the eighteenth
and nineteenth century. Equality, tolerance, freedom, and liberty were
values that first emerged in the eighteenth-century French Revolution,
which spread throughout Europe and reached the educated class of the
colonies. Jacinto, an ilustrado himself, certainly got an understanding of
these values. Aside from the liberal values that can be dissected in the
document, we can also decipher certain Victorian and chivalrous values in
the text. For example, various provisions in the Kartilya repeatedly
emphasized the importance of honor in words and in action. The teaching of
the Katipunan on how women should be treated with honor and respect,
while positive in many respects and certainly a significant stride from the
practice of raping and physically abusing women, can still be telling of the
Katipunan’s secondary regard for women in relation to men. For example, in
the tenth rule, the document specifically stated that men should be the
guide of women and children, and that he should set a good example,
otherwise the women and the children would be guided in the path of evil.
Nevertheless, the same document stated that women should be treated as
companions by men and not as playthings that can be exploited for their
pleasure.
In the contemporary eyes, the Katipunan can be criticized because of
these provisions. However, one must not forget the context where the
organization was born. Not even in Europe or in the whole of the West at
that juncture recognized the problem of gender inequality. Indeed, it can be
argued that Katipunan’s recognition of women as important partners in the
struggles, as reflected not just in Kartilya but also in the organizational
structure of the fraternity where a women’s unit was established, is an
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endeavor advanced for its time. Aside from Rizal’s known Letter to the
Women of Malolos, no same effort by the supposed cosmopolitan
Propaganda Movement was achieved until the movement’s eventual
disintegration in the latter part of the 1890s.
Aside from this, the Kartilya was instructive not just of the
Katipunan’s conduct toward other people, but also for the member’s
development as individuals in their own rights. Generally speaking, the
rules in the Kartilya can be classified as either directed to how one should
treat his neighbor or how one should develop and conduct one’s self. Both
are essential to the success and fulfillment of the Katipunan’s ideals. For
example, the Kartilya’s teaching in honoring one’s word and not wasting
time are teachings directed toward self-development, while the rules on
treating the neighbor’s wife, children, and brothers the way that you want
yours to be treated is an instruction on how Katipuneros should treat and
regard their neighbors.
All in all, proper reading of the Kartilya will reveal a more thorough
understanding of the Katipunan and the significant role that it played in the
revolution and in the unfolding of the Philippine history, as we know it.
Reading the “Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”

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https://makingitfuninthephilippines.blogspot.com/2018/06/dont-use-
june-12-1898-to-use-resist.html
https://melaimagpantay.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/ang-kasaysayan-ng-
pilipinas-sa-pera-ang-5-piso/
Every year, the country commemorates the anniversary of the
Philippine Independence proclaimed on12 June 1898, in the Province of
Cavite. Indeed, such event is a significant turning point in the history of our
country because it signaled the end of the 333 years of Spanish
colonization. There have been numerous studies done on the events leading
to the independence of the country but very few students had the chance to
read the actual document of the declaration. This is in spite of the historical
importance of the document and the details that the document reveals on
the rationale and circumstances of that historical day in Cavite.
Interestingly, reading of the details of the said document in hindsight is
telling of the kind of government that was created under Aguinaldo, and the
forthcoming hand of the United States of America in the next few years of
the newly created republic. The declaration was a short 2,000- word
document, which summarized the reason behind the revolution against
Spain, the war for independence, and the future of the new republic under
Emilio Aguinaldo.
The proclamation commenced with a characterization of the
conditions in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period. The
document specifically mentioned abuses and inequalities in the colony. The
declaration says:
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“... taking into consideration, that their inhabitants being
already weary of bearing the ominous yoke of the Spanish
domination, on account of the arbitrary arrests and harsh treatment
practiced by the Civil Guard to the extent of causing death with the
connivance and even with the express orders of their commanders,
who sometimes went to the extreme of ordering the shooting of
prisoners under the pretext that they were attempting to escape, in
violation of the provisions of the Regulations of their Corps, which
abuses were unpunished and on the account of the unjust
deportations, especially those decreed by General Blanco, of eminent
personages and of high social position, at the instigation of the
Archbishop and friars interested in keeping them out of the way for
their own selfish and avaricious purpose, deportations which are
quickly brought about by a method of procedure more execrable than
that of the Inquisition and which every civilized nation rejects on
account of a decision being rendered without a hearing of the persons
accused.”
The above passage demonstrates the justifications behind the
revolution against Spain. Specifically cited are the abuse by the Civil Guards
and the unlawful shooting of prisoners whom they alleged as attempting to
escape. The passage also condemns the unequal protection of the law
between the Filipino people and the “eminent personages.” Moreover, the
line mentions the avarice and greed of the clergy like the friars and the
Archbishop himself. Lastly, the passages also condemned what they saw as
the unjust deportation and rendering of other decision without proper
hearing, expected of any civilized nation.
From here, the proclamation proceeded with a brief historical overview
of the Spanish occupation since Magellan’s arrival in Visayas until the
Philippine Revolution, with specific details about the latter, especially after
the Pact of Baik-na-Bato had collapsed. The document narrates the spread
of the movement “like an electric spark” through different towns and
provinces like Bataan, Pampanga, Batangas, Bulacan, Laguna, and Morong,
and the quick decline of Spanish forces in the same provinces. The revolt
also reached Visayas; thus, the independence of the country was ensured.
The document also mention’s Rizal’s execution, calling it unjust. The
execution, as written in the document, was done to “please the greedy body
of friars in their insatiable desire to seek revenge upon and exterminate all
those who are opposed to their Machiavellian purposes, which tramples
upon the penal code prescribed for these islands.” The document also
narrates the Cavite Mutiny of January 1872 that caused the infamous
execution of the martyred native priest Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez, and
Jacinto Zamora, “whose innocent blood was shed through the intrigues of

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those so-called religious orders” that incited the three secular priests in the
said mutiny.
The proclamation of independence also invokes that the established
republic would be led under the dictatorship of Emilio Aguinaldo. The first
mention was at the very beginning of the proclamation. It stated:
“In the town of Cavite Viejo, in this province of Cavite, on the
twelfth day of June eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, before me,
Don Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, Auditor of War and Special
Commissioner appointed to proclaim and solemnize this act by the
Dictatorial Government of these Philippine Islands, for the purposes
and by virtue of the circular addressed by the Eminent Dictator of the
same Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy.”
The same was repeated toward the last part of the proclamation. It
states:
“ We acknowledge, approve and confirm together with the
orders that have been issued therefrom, the Dictatorship established
by Don Emilio Aguinaldo, whom we honor as the Supreme Chief of this
Nation, which this day commences to have a life of its own, in the
belief that he is the instrument selected by God, in spite of his humble
origin, to effect the redemption of this unfortunate people, as foretold
by Doctor Jose Rizal in the magnificent verses which he composed
when he was preparing to be shot, liberating them from the yoke of
Spanish domination in punishment of the impunity with which their
Government allowed the commission of abuses by its subordinates.”
Another detail in the proclamation that is worth looking at is its
explanation on the Philippine flag that was first waved on the same day. The
document explained:
“And finally, it was unanimously resolved that this Nation,
independent from this day, must use the same flag used heretofore,
whose design and colors and described in the accompanying drawing,
with design representing in natural colors the three arms referred to.
The white triangle represents the distinctive emblem of the famous
Katipunan Society, which by means of its compact of blood urged on
the masses of the people to insurrection; the three stars represent the
three principal Islands of this Archipelago, Luzon, Mindanao and
Panay, in which this insurrectionary movement broke out; the sun
represents the gigantic strides that have been made by the sons of
this land on the road of progress and civilization, its eight rays
symbolizing the eight provinces of Manila, Cavite, Bulacan,
Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Laguna and Batangas, which were
declared in a state of war almost as soon as the first insurrectionary
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movement was initiates; and the colors blue, red and white,
commemorate those of the flag of the United States of North America,
in manifestation of our profound gratitude towards that Great Nation
for the disinterested protection she is extending to us and will
continue to extend to us.”
This detail reveals much about the historically accurate meaning
behind the most widely known national symbol in the Philippines. It is not
known by many for example, that the white triangle was derived from the
symbol of the Katipunan. The red and blue colors of the flag are often
associated with courage and peace, respectively. Our basic education omits
the fact that those colors were taken from the flag of the United States.
While it can always be argued that symbolic meaning can always change
and be reinterpreted, the original symbolic meaning of something presents
us several historical truths that can explain the subsequent events, which
unfolded after the declaration of independence on the 12th day of June 1898.
Analysis of the “Proclamation of the Philippine Independence”
As mention earlier, a re-examination of the document on the
declaration of independence can reveal some often-overlooked historical
truths about this important event in Philippine history. Aside from this, the
document reflects the general revolutionary sentiment of that period. For
example, the abuses specifically mentioned in the proclamation like friar
abuse, racial discrimination, and inequality before the law reflect the most
compelling sentiments represented by the revolutionary leadership.
However, no mention was made about the more serious problem that
affected the masses more profoundly (i.e., the land and agrarian crisis felt by
the numerous Filipino peasants in the nineteenth century). This is ironic
especially when renowned Philippine Revolution historian, Teodoro
Agoncillo, stated that the Philippine Revolution was an agrarian revolution.
The common revolutionary soldiers fought in the revolution for the hope of
owning the lands that they were tilling once the friar estates in different
provinces like Batangas and Laguna dissolve, if and when the revolution
succeeded. Such aspects and realities of the revolutionary leaders like
Emilio Aguinaldo, Ambrosio Rianzares- Bautista, and Felipe Buencamino, or
were intentionally left out because they were landholders themselves.
The Treaty of Paris was an agreement signed between Spain and the
United States of America regarding the ownership of the Philippines
Islands and other Spanish colonies in South America. The agreement
ended the short-lived Spanish- American War. The Treaty was signed on
10 December 1898, six months after the revolutionary government
declared the Philippine Independence. The Philippines was sold to the
United States at ＄20 million and effectively undermined the sovereignty of
the Filipinos after their revolutionary victory. The Americans occupied the
Philippines immediately which resulted Date
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The proclamation also gives us the impression on how the victorious
revolutionary government of Aguinaldo historicized the struggle for
independence. There were mentions of past events that were seen as
important turning points of the movement against Spain. The execution of
the GOMBURZA, for example, and the failed Cavite Mutiny of 1872 was
narrated in detail. This shows that they saw this event as a significant
awakening of the Filipinos in the real conditions of the nation under Spain.
Jose Rizal’s legacy and martyrdom were also mentioned in the document.
However, the Katipunan’s foundation. Bonifacio and his co-founders were
also left out. It can be argued, thus, that the way of historical narration
found in the document also reflects the politics of the victors. The enmity
between Aguinaldo’s Magdalo and Bonifacio’s Magdiwang in the Katipunan
is no secret in the pages of our history. On the contrary, the war led by
Aguinaldo’s men with the forces of the United States were discussed in
detail.
The point is, even official records and documents like the
proclamation of independence, while truthful most of the time, still exude
the politics and biases of whoever is in power. This manifests in the
selectiveness of information that can be found in these records. It is the task
of the historian, thus, to analyze the content of these documents in relation
to the dominant politics and the contexts of people and institutions
surrounding it. This tells us a lesson on taking primary sources like official
government records within the circumstance of this production. Studying
one historical subject, thus, entails looking at a multiple primary sources
and pieces of historical evidences in order to have a more nuanced and
contextual analysis of our past.
Revisiting Corazon Aquino’s Speech Before the U.S. Congress.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX9ysynaIq0
Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco Aquino functioned as the symbol of the
restoration of democracy and the overthrow of the Marcos Dictatorship in
1986. The EDSA People Power, which installed Cory Aquino in the
presidency, put the Philippines in the international spotlight for
overthrowing a dictator through peaceful means. Cory was easily a figure of
the said revolution, as the widow of the slain Marcos oppositionist and
former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. Cory was hoisted as the
antithesis of the dictator. Her image as a mourning, widowed housewife who
had always been in the shadow of her husband and relatives and had no
experience in politics was juxtaposed against Marcos’s statesmanship,
eloquence, charisma, and cunning political skills. Nevertheless, Cory was
able to capture the imagination of the people whose rights and freedom had
long been compromised throughout the Marcos regime. This is despite the
fact that Cory came from a rich haciendero family in Tarlac and owned vast
estates of sugar plantation and whose relatives occupy local and national
government positions.
The People Power Revolution of 1986 was widely recognized around the
world for its peaceful character. When former senator Ninoy Aquino was
shot at the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on 21 August 1983,
the Marcos regime greatly suffered a crisis of legitimacy. Protests from
different sectors frequented different areas in the country. Marcos’s
credibility in the international community also suffered. Paired with the
looming economic crisis, Marcos had to do something to prove his allies in
the United States that he remained to be the democratically anointed
leader of the country. He called for a Snap Election in February 1986,
where Corazon Cojunagco Aquino, the widow of the slain senator was
convinced to run against Marcos. The canvassing was rigged to Marcos’s
favor but the people expressed their protests against the corrupt and
authoritarian government. Leading military officials of the regime and
Martial Law orchestrators themselves,
Bulacan Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel V.
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On 18 September 1986, seven months since Cory became president,
she went to the United States and spoke before the joint session of the U.S.
Congress. Cory was welcomed with long applause as she took the podium
and addressed the United States about her presidency and the challenges
faced by the new republic. She began her speech with the story of her
leaving the United States three years prior as a newly widowed wife of Ninoy
Aquino.
She then told of Ninoy’s character, conviction, and resolve in opposing
the authoritarianism of Marcos. She talked of the three times that they lost
Ninoy including his demise on 23 August 1983. The first time was when the
dictatorship detained Ninoy with other dissenters. Cory related:
“The government sought to break him by indignities and terror.
They locked him up in tiny, nearly airless cell in a military camp in
the north. They stripped him naked and held a threat of a sudden
midnight execution over his head. Ninoy held up manfully under all of
it. I barely did as well. For forty-three days, the authorities would not
tell me what had happened to him. This is the first time my children
and I felt we had lost him.”
Cory continued that when Ninoy survived that first detention, he was
then charged of subversion, murder, and other crimes. He was tried by a
military court, whose legitimacy Ninoy adamantly questioned. To solidify hi
protest, Ninoy decided to do a hunger strike and fasted for 40 days. Cory
treated this event as the second time that their family lost Ninoy. She said:
“When that didn’t work, they put him on trial of subversion,
murder and a host of other crimes before a military commission.
Ninoy challenged its authority and went on a fast. If he survived it,
then he felt God intended for another fate. We had lost him again. For
nothing would hold him back from his determination to see his fast
through to the end. He stopped only when it dawned on him that the
government would keep his body alive after the fast had destroyed his
brain. And so, with barely any life in his body, he called off the fast
on the 40th day.”

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Ninoy’s death was the third and the last time that Cory and their
children lost Ninoy. She continues:
“And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully in the
past. The news came to us in Boston. It had to be after the three
happiest years of our lives together. But his death was my country’s
resurrection and the courage and faith by which alone they could be
free again. The dictator had called him a nobody. Yet, two million
people threw aside their passivity and fear and escorted him to his
grave.”
Cory attributed the peaceful EDSA Revolution to the martyrdom of
Ninoy. She stated that the death of Ninoy sparked the revolution and the
responsibility of “offering the democratic alternative” had “fallen on (her)
shoulders.” Cory’s address introduced us to her democratic philosophy,
which she claimed she also acquired from Ninoy. She argued:
“I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of
democracy. I held out for participation in the 1984 election the
dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be rigged. I was warned by
the lawyers of the opposition, that I ran the grave risk of legitimizing
the foregone results of elections that were clearly going to be
fraudulent. But I was not fighting for lawyers but for the people in
whose intelligence, I had implicit faith. By the exercise of democracy
even in a dictatorship, they would be prepared for democracy when it
came. And then also, it was the only way I knew by which we could
measure our power even in the terms dictated by the dictatorship. The
people vindicated me in an election shamefully marked by government
thuggery and fraud. The opposition swept the elections, garnering a
clear majority of the votes even if they ended up (thanks to a corrupt
Commission on Elections) with barely a third of the seats in
Parliament. Now, I knew our power.”
“Again, as we restore democracy by the ways of democracy. So,

are we completing the constitutional structures of our new democracy
under a constitution that already gives full respect to the Bill of
Rights? A jealousy independent constitutional commission is
completing its draft which will be submitted later this year to a
popular referendum. When it is approved, there will be elections for
both national and local positions. So, within about a year from a
peaceful but national upheaval that overturned a dictatorship, we
shall have returned to full constitutional government.”

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Cory then proceeded on her peace agenda with the existing
communist insurgency, aggravated by the dictatorial and authoritarian
measure of Ferdinand Marcos. She asserted:
“My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a
communist insurgency that numbered less than five hundred.
Unhampered by respect for human rights he went at it with hammer
and tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had grown to more
than sixteen thousand. I think there is a lesson here to be learned
about trying to stifle a thing with a means by which it grows.”
Cory’s peace agenda involves political initiatives and re-integration
program to persuade insurgents to leave the countryside and return to the
mainstream society to participate in the restoration of democracy. She
invoked the path of peace because she believed that it was the moral path a
moral government must take. Nevertheless, Cory took a step back when she
said that while peace is the priority of her presidency, she “will not waiver”
when freedom and democracy are threatened. She said that, similar to
Abraham Lincoln, she understands that “force may be necessary before
mercy” and while she did not relish the idea, she “will do whatever it takes
to defend the integrity and freedom of (her) country.”
Cory then turned to the controversial topic of the Philippine foreign
debt amounting to ＄ 26 billion at that time of her speech. This debt had
ballooned during the Marcos regime. Cory expressed her intention to honor
those debts despite mentioning that the people did not benefit from such
debts. Thus, she mentioned her protestations about the way the Philippines
was deprived of choices to pay those debts within the capacity of the Filipino
people. She lamented:
“Finally, may I turn to that other slavery, our twenty-six-billion-
dollar foreign debt. I have said that we shall honor it. Yet, the means
by which we shall be able to do so are kept from us. Many of the
conditions imposed on the previous government that stole this debt,
continue to be imposed on us who never benefited from it.”
She continued that while the country had experienced the calamities
brought about by the corrupt dictatorship of Marcos, no commensurate
assistance was yet to be extended to the Philippines. She even remarked
that given the peaceful character of EDSA People Power Revolution, “ours
must have been the cheapest revolution ever.” She demonstrated that the
Filipino people fulfilled the “most difficult condition of the debt negotiation,”
which was the “restoration of democracy and responsible government.”
Cory related to the U.S. legislators that wherever she went, she met
poor and unemployed Filipinos willing to offer their lives for democracy. She
stated:
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“Whenever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished
village. They came to me with one cry, democracy. Not food although
they surely wanted it but democracy. Not money, for they give what
little they had to my campaign. They didn’t expect me to work a
miracle that would instantly out food into their mouths, clothes on
their back, education in their children and give them work that will
put dignity in their lives. But I feel the pressing obligation to respond
quickly as the leader of the people so deserving of all these things.”
Cory proceeded in enumerating the challenges of the Filipino people
as they tried building the new democracy. These were the persisting
communist insurgency and the economic deterioration. Cory further
lamented that these problems worsened by the crippling debt because half
of the country’s export earnings amounting to ＄2 billion would “go pay just
the interest on a debt whose benefit the Filipino never received.” Cory then
asked a rather compelling question to the U.S. Congress:
“Has there been a greater test of national commitment to the
ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone through? You
have spent many lives and much treasure to bring freedom to many
lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here, you have a people
who want it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.”
Cory ended her speech by thanking America for serving as home to
her family for what she referred to as the” three happiest years of our lives
together.” She enjoined America in building the Philippines as a new home
for democracy and in turning the country as a “shining testament of our two
nation’s commitment to freedom.”
Analysis of Cory Aquino’s Speech
Cory Aquino’s speech was an important event in the political and
diplomatic history of the country because it has arguably cemented the
legitimacy of the EDSA government in the international arena. The speech
talks of her family background, especially g=her relationship with her late
husband, Ninoy Aquino. It is well known that it was Ninoy who served as the
real leading figure of the opposition at that time. Indeed, Ninoy’s eloquence
and charisma could very well compete with that of Marcos. In her speech,
Cory talked at length about Ninoy’s toil and suffering at the hands of the
dictatorship that he resisted. Even when she proceeded talking about her
new government, she still went back to Ninoy’s legacies and lessons.
Moreover, her attribution of the revolution to Ninoy’s death demonstrates no
only Cory’s personal perception on the revolution, but since she was the
president, it also presents what the dominant discourse was at that point in
our history.

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The ideology or the principles of the new democratic government can
also be seen in the same speech. Aquino was able to draw the sharp
contrast between her government and of her predecessor by expressing her
commitment to a democratic constitution drafted by an independent
commission. She claimed that such constitution upholds and adheres to the
rights and liberty of the Filipino people. Cory also hoisted herself as the
reconciliatory agent after more than two decades of a polarizing
authoritarian politics. For example, Cory saw the blown-up communist
insurgency as a product of a repressive and corrupt government. Her
response to this insurgency rooted from her diametric opposition of the
dictator (i.e., initiating reintegration of communist rebels to the mainstream
Philippine society). Cory claimed that her main approach to this problem
was through peace and not through the sword of war.
Despite Cory’s effort to hoist herself as the exact opposite of Marcos,
her speech still revealed certain parallelisms between her and the Marcos’s
government. This is seen in terms of continuing the alliance between the
Philippines and the United States despite the known affinity between the
said world super power and Marcos. The Aquino regime, as seen in Cory’s
acceptance of the invitation to address the U.S. Congress and to the content
of the speech, decided to build and continue with the alliance the
Philippines and the United States and effectively implemented an essentially
similar foreign policy to that of the dictatorship. For example, Cory
recognized that the large sum of foreign debts incurred by the Marcos
regime never benefitted the Filipino people. Nevertheless, Cory expressed her
intention to pay off those debts. Unknown to many Filipinos was the fact
that there was a choice of waiving the said debt because those were the debt
of the dictator and not of the country. Cory’s decision is an indicator of her
government’s intention to carry on a debt-driven economy.
Reading through Aquino’s speech, we can already take cues, not just
on Cory’s individual ideas and aspirations, but also the guiding principles
and framework of the government that she represented.

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MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology

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2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4

Philippine History: Spaces for

Conflict and Controversies

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Philippine History: Spaces for Conflict and
Controversies

 Demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in favor or against a
particular issue using primary sources
TOPIC:
1. Making Sense of the Past: Historical Interpretation

2. Multi-perspectivity
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.facebook.com/Philippine-History-193032891425729/
https://alchetron.com/Code-of-Kalantiaw
https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Attraction_Review-g15001823-d3572477-
Reviews-Kalantiaw_Shrine-Batan_Aklan_Province_Panay_Island_Visayas.html
https://xiaochua.net/tag/ambeth/
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sa_Aking_Mga_Kabata

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Philippine History: Spaces for Conflict and Controversies
 To interpret historical events using primary sources.
 To recognize the multiplicity of interpretation than can be read from a
historical text.
 To identify the advantages and disadvantages of employing critical tools
in interpreting historical events through primary sources.
 To demonstrate ability to argue for or against a particular issue using
primary sources.
Introduction:
In this chapter, we will analyze four historiographical problems in
Philippine history in an attempt to apply what we have learned thus far in
the work of a historian and the process of historical inquiry. Earlier, we have
been introduced to history as a discipline, the historical method, and the
content and context analysis of primary sources. Two key concepts that
need to be defined before proceeding to the historical analysis of problems in
history are interpretation and multi-perspectivity.

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https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/74076/the-
philippine-diary-project-a1507-20180612-lfrm3
Making Sense of the Past: Historical Interpretation
History is the study of the past, but more contemporary definition is
centered on how it impacts the present through its consequences. Geoffrey
Barraclough defines history as “the attempt to discover, on the basis of
fragmentary evidence, the significant things about the past.” He also
notes “the history we read, though based on facts, is strictly speaking,
not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgments.” Such judgments
of historians on how the past should be seen make the foundation of
historical interpretation.
The Code of Kalantiaw is a mythical legal code in the epic history
Maragtas. Before it was revealed as a hoax, it was a source of pride for the
people of Aklan. In fact, a historical marker was installed in the town of
Batan, Aklan in 1956, with the following text:
“CODE OF KALANTIAW. Datu Bendehara Kalantiaw, third Chief
of Panay, born in Aklan, established his government in the peninsula of
Batang, Aklan Sakup. Considered the First Filipino Lawgiver, he
promulgated in about 1433 a penal code now known as Code of Kalantiaw
containing 18 articles. Don Marcelino Orilla of Zaragoza, Spain,
obtained the original manuscript from an old chief of Panay which was
later translated into Spanish by Rafael Murviedo Yzamaney.”
It was only in 1968 that it was proved a hoax, when William Henry Scott,
then a doctoral candidate at the University of Santo Tomas, defended his
research on pre-Hispanic sources in Philippine history. He attributed the
code to a historical fiction written in 1913 by Jose E. Marco titled Las
Antiguas Leyendas de la Isla de Negros. Marco attributed the code itself to
a priest named Jose Maria Pavon. Prominent Filipino historians did not
dissent to Scott’s findings, but there are still some who would like to
believe that the code is a legitimate document.

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Historians utilized facts collected from the primary sources of history
and then draw their own reading so that their intended audience may
understand the historical event, a process that in essence, “make sense of
the past.” The premise is that not all primary sources are accessible to a
general audience, and without the proper training and background, a non-
historian interpreting a primary source may do more harm than good--- a
primary source may even cause misunderstandings; sometimes, even
resulting in more problems.
Interpretations of the past, therefore, vary according to who reads the
primary source, when it was read, and how it was read. As students of
history, we must be well equipped to recognized different types of
interpretations, why these may differ from each other, and how to critically
sift these interpretations through historical evaluation. Interpretations of
historical events change over time; thus, it is an important skill for a
student of history to track these changes in an attempt to understand the
past.
“Sa Aking Mga Kabata” is a poem purportedly written by Jose Rizal when
he was eight years old and is probably one of Rizal’s most prominent
works. There is no evidence to support the claim that this poem, with the
now immortalized lines “Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang
salita/mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda” was written by Rizal, and
worse, the evidence against Rizal’s authorship of the poem seems all
unassailable.
There exists no manuscript of the poem handwritten by Rizal. The
poem was first published in 1906, in a book by Hermenegildo Cruz. Cruz
said he received the poem from Gabriel Beato Francisco, who claimed t
have received it in1884 from Rizal’s close friend, Saturnino Raselis. Rizal
never mentioned writing his poem anywhere in his writings, and more
importantly, he never mentioned of having a close friend by the person of
Raselis.
Further criticism of the poem reveals more about the wrongful
attribution of the poem to Rizal. The poem was written in Tagalog and
referred to the word “kalayaan.” But it was documented in Rizal’s letters
that he first encountered the word through a Marcelo H. del Pilar’s
translation of Rizal’s essay “El Amor Patrio,”
Bulacan where it was spelled as
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Rizal’s native tonguec was Taglog, he was educated 148 in
Spanish, starting from
Readings in his College
mother, Teodora Alonso. Later on, he would
express disappointment
Philippine History in Document
his difficultyDeveloped
in expressing
by: himself in his
No. Farrah Mae S. Santos Revision # 00
native tongue.Hist 213
c/o Admin
The poem’s spelling is also a suspect---the use of letters “k” and “w”
to replace “c” and “u,” respectively was suggested by Rizal as an adult. If
the poem was indeed written during his time, it should use the original
Spanish orthography that was prevalent in his time.
Many of the things we accept as “true” about the past might not be
the case anymore; just because these were taught to us as “facts” when we
were younger does not mean that it is set in stone---history is, after all, a
construct. And as a construct, it is open for interpretation. There might be
conflicting and competing accounts of the past that need one’s attention,
and can impact the way we view our country’s history and identity. It is
important, therefore, to subject to evaluation not only the primary source,
but also the historical interpretation of the same, to ensure that the current
interpretation is reliable to support our acceptance of events of the past.

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Multi-perspectivity
With several possibilities of interpreting the past, another important
concept that we must note is multi-perspectivity. This can be defined as a
way of looking at historical events, personalities, developments, cultures,
and societies from different perspectives. This means that there is a
multitude of ways by which we can view the world, and each could be
equally valid, and at the same time, equally partial as well. Historical writing
is, by definition, biased, partial, and contains preconceptions. The historians
decide on what sources to use, what interpretation to make more apparent,
depending on what his end is. Historians may misinterpret evidence,
attending to those that suggest that a certain event happened, and then
ignore the rest that goes against the evidence. Historians may omit
significant facts about their subject, which makes the interpretation
unbalanced. Historians may impose a certain ideology to their subject,
which may not be appropriate to the period the subject was from. Historians
may also provide a single cause for an event without considering other
possible causal explanations of said event. These are just many of the ways
a historian may fail in his historical inference, description, and
interpretation. With multi-perspectivity as an approach in history, we must
understand that historical interpretations contain discrepancies,
contradictions, ambiguities, and are often the focus of dissent.
Exploring multiple perspectives in history requires incorporating
source materials that reflect different views of an event in history, because
singular historical narratives do not provide for space to inquire and
investigate. Different sources that counter each other may create space for
more investigation and research, while providing more evidence for those
truths that these sources agree on.
Different kinds of sources also provide different historical truths---an
official document may note different aspects of the past than, say, a memoir
of an ordinary person on the same event. Different historical agents create

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different historical truths, and while this may be a burdensome work for the
historian, it also renders more validity to the historical scholarship.
Taking these in close regard in the reading of historical
interpretations, it provides for the audience a more complex, but also a more
complete and richer understanding of the past.

MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2
Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass

4 Hist 213-4
Take Place in the Philippines?


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Case Study 1:
Where Did the First Catholic
Mass Take Place in the
Philippines?

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass
Take Place in the Philippines?

TOPIC:
1. Primary Source: Albo’s Log

2. Primary Source: Pigafetta’s Testimony on the Route of Magellan’s
Expedition
3. Primary Source: Pigafetta and Seven Days in Mazaua

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1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.quora.com/Where-is-the-first-mass-of-Spain-in-the-Philippines
https://prezi.com/p/vcp-prouit85/limasawa/
https://prezi.com/_dvtcfzqygc6/seven-days-at-mazaua/

Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take Place in the
Philippines?
historical text.
primary sources.
Introduction:
The popularity of knowing where the “firsts” happened in history has
been an easy way to trivialize history, but this case study will not focus on
the significance (or lack thereof) of the site of the first Catholic Mass in the
Philippines, but rather, use it as a historiographical exercise in the
utilization of evidence and interpretation in reading historical events.
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https://airarukawa.wordpress.com/2017/04/23/places-i-want-to-visit-
in-southern-leyte/
Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take Place in the
Philippines?
Butuan has long been believed as the site of the first Mass. In fact, his
has been the case for three centuries, culminating in the erection of a
monument in 1872 near Agusan River, which commemorates the
expedition’s arrival and celebration of Mass on 8 April 1521. The Butuan
claim has been based on a rather elementary reading of primary sources
from the event.
Toward the end of the nineteenth century and the start of the
twentieth century, together with the increasing scholarship on the history of
the Philippines, a more nuanced reading of the available evidence was made,
which brought to light more considerations in going against the more
accepted interpretation of the first Mass in the Philippines, made both by
Spanish and Filipino scholars.
It must be noted that there are only two primary sources that
historians refer to in identifying the site of the first Mass. One is the log kept
by Francisco Albo, a pilot of one of Magellan’s ship, Trinidad. He was one of
the 18 survivors who returned with Sebastian Elcano on the ship Victoria
after they circumnavigate the world. The other, and the more complete, was
the account of Antonio Pigafetta, Primo viaggio intorno al mondo (First
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Voyage Around the World). Pigafette, like Albo, was a member of the
Magellan expedition and an eyewitness of the events, particularly, of the first
Mass.
Primary Source: Albo’s Log

1. On the 16th of March (1521) as they sailed in a westerly course from
Ladrones, they saw land towards the northwest; but owing to many shallow
places they did not approach it. They found later that its name was
Yunagan.
2. They went instead that same day southwards to another small island
named Suluan, and there they anchored. There they saw some canoes but
these fled at the Spaniards’ approach. This island was at 9 and two-thirds
degrees North latitude.
3. Departing from those two islands, they sailed westward to an uninhabited
island of “Gada” where they took in a supply of food and water. The sea
around that island was free from shallows. (Albo does not give the latitude of
this island, but from Pigafetta’s testimony, this seems to be the “Acquada” or
Homonhon, at 10 degrees North latitude.)
4. From that island they sailed westwards towards a large island names
Seilani that was inhabited and was known to have gold. (Seilani-or, as
Pigafetta calls it, “Ceylon”- was the island of Leyte.)

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5. Sailing southwards along the coast of that large island of Seilani, they
turned southwest to a small island called “Mazava.” That island is also at a
latitude of 9 and two-third degrees North.
6. The people of that island of Mazava were very good. There the Spaniards
planted a cross upon a mountain- top, and from there they were shown
three islands to the west and southwest, where they were told there was
much gold.” They showed us how the gold was gathered, which came in
small pieces like peas and lentils.”
7. From Mazava they sailed northwards again towards Seilani. They followed
the coast of Seilani in a northwesterly direction, ascending up to 10 degrees
of latitude where they saw three small islands.
8. From there they sailed westwards some 10 leagues, and there they saw
three islets, where they dropped anchor for the night. In the morning they
sailed southwest some 12 leagues, down to a latitude of 10 and one-third
degree. There they entered a channel between two islands, one of which was
called “Matan” and the other “Subu.”
9. They sailed down that channel and then turned westward and anchored
at the town (la villa) of Subu where they stayed many days and obtained
provisions and entered into a peace-pact with the local king.
10. The town of Subu was on an east-west direction with the islands of
Suluan and Mazava. But between Mazava and Subu, there were so many
shallows that the boats could not go westward directly but has to go (as they
did) in a round-about way.
It must be noted that in Albo’s account, the location of Mazava fits the
location of the island of Limasawa, at the southern tip of Leyte, 9°54N. also,
Albo does not mention the first Mass, but only the planting of the cross
upon the mountain top from which could be seen three islands to the west
and southwest, which also fits the southern end of Limasawa.
Primary Source: Pigafetta’s Testimony on the Route of Magellan’s
Expedition.
1. Saturday, 16 March 1521- Magellan’s expedition sighted a “high land”
named “Zamal” which was some 300 leagues westward of Ladrones (now the
Marianas) Islands.
2. Sunday, March 17- “the following day” after sighting Zamal Island, they
landed on “another island which was uninhabited” and which lay “to the
right” of the above-mentioned island of “Zamal.” (To the “right” here would
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mean on their starboard going south or southwest.) There they set up two
tents for the sick members of the crew and had a sow killed for them. The
name of this island was “Humunu” (Homohon). This island was located at
10 degrees North latitude.
3. On that same day (Sunday, March 17), Magellan named the entire
archipelago the “Islands of Saint Lazarus,” the reason being that it was
Sunday in the Lenten season when the Gospel assigned for the Mass and
the liturgical Office was the eleventh chapter of St. John, which tells of the
raising of Lazarus from the dead.
4. Monday, March 18- In the afternoon of their second day on that island,
they saw a boat coming towards them with nine men in it. An exchange of
gifts was affected. Magellan asked for food supplies, and the men went away,
promising to bring rice and other supplies in “four days.”
5. There were two springs of water on that island of Homonhon. Also, they
saw there some indications that there was gold in these islands.
Consequently, Magellan renamed the island and called it the “Watering
Place of Good Omen” (Acquada la di bouni segnialli).
6. Friday, March 22- At noon the natives returned. This time they were in
two boats, and they brought food supplies.
7. Magellan’s expedition stayed eight days at Homonhon: from Sunday,
March 17 to the Monday of the following week, March 25.
8. Monday, March 25- In the afternoon, the expedition weighed anchor and
left the island of Homonhon. In the ecclesiastical calendar, this day (March
25) was the feast day of the Incarnation, also called the feast of the
Annunciation and therefore “Our Lady’s Day.” On this day, as they were
about to weigh anchor, an accident happened to Pigafetta: he fell into the
water but was rescued. He attributed his narrow escape from death as grace
obtained through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary on her feast
day.
9. The route taken by the expedition after leaving Homonhon was “toward
the west southwest, between four islands: namely, Cenalo, Hiunanghan,
Ibusson, and Albarein.” Very probably “Cenalo” is a misspelling in the
Italian manuscript for what Pigafetta in his map calls “Ceilon” and Albo calls
“Seilani”: namely the island of Leyte.” Hiunanghan” (a misspelling of
Hinunangan)seemed to Pigafetta to be a separate island, but is actually on
the mainland of Leyte (i.e., “Ceylon”). On the other hand, Hibuson
(Pigafetta’s Ibusson) is an island east of Leyte’s southern tip. Thus, it is easy
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to see what Pigafetta meant by sailing “toward the west of southwest”past
those islands. They left Homonhon sailing westward towards Leyte, then
followed the Leyte coast southward, passing between the island of Hibuson
on their portside and Hiunangan Bay on their starboard, and then
continued southward, then turning westward to “Mazaua.”
10. Thursday, March 28- In the morning of Holy Thursday, Marc 28, they
anchored off an island where the previous night they had seen a light or a
bonfire. That island “lies in a latitude of nine anf two-thirds towards the
Arctic Pole (i.e., North) and in a longitude of one hundred and sixty-two
degrees from the line of demarcation. It is twenty-five leagues from the
Acquada, and is called Mazaua.”
11. They remained seven days on Mazaua Island.
12. Thursday, April 4- They left Mazaua, bound for Cebu. They were guided
thither by the king of Mazaua who sailed in his own boat. Their route took
them past five “islands”namely: “Ceylon, Bohol, Canighan, Baibai, and
Gatighan.”
13. At Gatighan, they sailed westward to the three islands of the Camotes
Group, namely, Poro, Pasihan and Ponson. Here the Spanish ships stopped
to allow the king of Mazaua to catch up with them, since the Spanish ships
were much faster than the native balanghai---a thing that excited the
admiration of the king of Mazaua.
14. From the Camotes Islands they sailed southwards towards “Zubu.”
15. Sunday, April 7- At noon they entered the harbor of “Zubu” (Cebu). It
had taken them three days to negotiate the journey from Mazaua
northwards to the Camotes Islands and then southwards to Cebu.
It must be pointed out that both Albo and Pigafetta’s testimonies coincide
and corroborate each other. Pigafetta gave more details on what they did
during their weeklong stay at Mazaua.
Primary Source: Pigafetta and Seven Days in Mazaua

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1. Thursday, March 28- In the morning they anchored near an island where
they had seen a light the night before a small boat (boloto)came with eight
natives, to whom Magellan threw some trinkets as presents. The natives
paddled away, but two hours later two larger boats(balanghai)came, in one
of which the native king sat under an awning of mats. At Magellan’s
invitation some of the natives went up the Spanish ship, but the native king
remained seated in his boat. An exchange of gifts was affected. In the
afternoon that day. The Spanish ships weighed anchor and came closer to
the shore, anchoring near the native king’s village. This Thursday, March
28, was Thursday in Holy Week, i.e. Holy Thursday.
2. Friday, March 29- “Next day, Holy Friday,” Magellan sent his slave
interpreter ashore in a small boat to ask the king if he could provide the
expedition with food supplies, and to say that they had come as friends and
not as enemies. In reply the king himself came in a boat with six or eight
men, and this time went up Magellan’s ship and the two men embraced.
Another exchange of gifts was made. The native king and his companions
returned ashore, bringing with them two members of Magellan’s expedition
as guests for the night. One of the two was Pigafetta.
3. Saturday, March 30- Pigafetta and his companion had spent the previous
evening feasting and drinking with the native king and his son. Pigafetta
deplored the fact that, although it was Good Friday, they had to eat meat.
The following morning (Saturday) Pigafetta and his companion took leave of
their hosts and returned to the ships.
4. Sunday, March 31-” Early in the morning of Sunday, the last of March
and Easter day,” Magellan sent the priest ashore with some men to prepare
for the Mass. Later in the morning Magellan landed with some fifty men and
Mass was celebrated, after which a cross was venerated. Magellan and the
Spaniards returned to the ship for the noon-day meal, but in the afternoon,

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they returned ashore to plant the cross on the summit of the highest hill. In
attendance both at the Mass and at the planting of the cross were the king
of Mazaua and the king of Butuan
5. Sunday, March 31- On that same afternoon, while on the summit of the
highest hill, Magellan asked the two kings which ports he should go to in
order to obtain more abundant supplies of food than were available in that
island. They replied that there were three ports to choose from: Ceylon,
Zubu, and Calagan. Of the three, Zubu was the port with the most trade.
Magellan then said that he wished to go to Zubu and to depart the following
morning. He asked for someone to guide him thither. The kings replied that
the pilots would be available “any time.” But later that evening the kin gof
Mazaua changed his mind and said that he would himself conduct Magellan
to Zubu but that he would first have to bring the harvest in. He asked
Magellan to send him men to help with the harvest.
6. Monday, April 1- Magellan sent men ashore to help with the harvest, but
no work was done that day because the two kings were sleeping off their
drinking bout the night before.
7. Tuesday, April 2 and Wednesday, April 3- Work on the harvest during the
“next two days,”i.e., Tuesdays and Wednesday, the 2nd and 3rd of April.
8. Thursday, April 4- They leave Mazaua, bound for Cebu.

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The Age of Exploration is a period of completion among European rulers
to conquer and colonize lands outside their original domains. Initially, the
goal was to find alternative routes by sea to get to Asia, the main source of
spices and other commodities. Existing routes to Asia were mainly by land
and cost very expensive. A sea route to Asia means that Europeans could
access spice trade directly, greatly reducing costs for traders. Spain’s
major foray into the exploration was through Christopher Columbus, who
proposed to sail westward to find a shortcut to Asia. He was able to reach
the Americas, which was then cut-off from the rest of the known world.
Spain colonized parts of North America, Mexico, and South America in the
sixteenth century. They were also able to reach the Philippines and claim
it for the Spanish crown. Later on, other European rulers would compete
with the activities of exploring and conquering lands.
Using the primary sources available, Jesuit priest Miguel A. Bernad in
his work Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of the First Mass in the Philippines:
A Reexaminaton of Evidence (19181) lays down the argument that in the
Pigafetta account, a crucial aspect of Butuan was not mentioned---the river.
Butuan is a riverine settlement, situated on the Agusan River. The beach of
Masao is in the delta of said river. It is a curious omission in the account of
the river, which makes part of a distinct characteristics of Butuan’s
geography that seemed to be too important to be missed.
It must also pointed out that later on, after Magellan’s death, the
survivors of his expedition went to Mindanao, and seemingly went to
Butuan. In this instance, Pigafetta vividly describes a trip in a river. But
note that this account already happened after Magellan’s death.

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MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4
Case Study 2: What Happened in the Cavite
5 Hist 213-5
Mutiny?

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Case Study 2:
What Happened in the Cavite
Mutiny?

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Case Study 2: What Happened in the Cavite
Mutiny?

TOPIC:
1. Spanish Accounts of the Cavite Mutiny

A. Primary Source: Excerpt from Jose Montero y Vidal’s Account of the
Cavite Mutiny
B. Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of Governor Rafael
Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
2. Differing Accounts of the Events of 1872
A. Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de Tavera’s Account of the Cavite
Mutiny
B. Primary Source: Excerpts from Edmund Plauchut’s Account of the Cavite
Mutiny
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
http://horaciodelacosta.blogspot.com/2016/10/gomez-burgos-and-zamora-
priests-and.html

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Case Study 2: What Happened in the Cavite Mutiny?
historical text.
primary sources.
Introduction:
The year 1872 is a historic year of two events: the Cavite Mutiny and
the martyrdom of the three priests: Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora, later on immortalized as GOMBURZA. These events are
very important milestones in Philippine history and have caused ripples
throughout time, directly influencing the decisive events of the Philippine
Revolution toward the end of the century. While the significance is
unquestioned, what made this year controversial are the different sides to
the story, a battle of perspectives supported by primary sources. In this case
study, we zoom in to the events of the Cavity Mutiny, a major factor in the
awakening of nationalism among the Filipinos of that time.

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https://app.emaze.com/@AOIQQIOLR#1

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Spanish Accounts of the Cavite Mutiny
The documentation of Spanish historian Jose Montero y Vidal
centered on how the event was an attempt in overthrowing the Spanish
government in the Philippines. Although regarded as a historian, his
account of the mutiny was criticized as woefully biased and rabid for a
scholar. Another account from the official report written by then Governor
Rafael Izquierdo implicated the native clergy, who were then, active in the
movement toward secularization of parishes. These two accounts
corroborated each other.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Jose Montero y Vidal’s Account of the
Cavite Mutiny
The abolition of privileges enjoyed by the laborers of the Cavite
arsenal of exemption from the tribute was, according to some, the cause of
the insurrection. There were, however, other causes.
The Spanish revolution which overthrew a secular throne; the
propaganda carried on by an unbridled press against monarchical
principles, attentatory [sic] of the most sacred respects towards the
dethroned majesty; the democratic and republican books and pamphlets;
the speeches and preachings of the apostles of these new ideas in Spain;
the outburst of the American publicists and the criminal policy of the
senseless Governor whom the revolutionary government sent to govern the
Philippines, and who put into practices these ideas were the determining
circumstances which gave rise, among certain Filipinos, to the idea of
attaining their independence, It was towards this goal that they started to
work, with the powerful assistance of a certain section of the native clergy,
who out of spite toward friars, made common cause with the enemies of the
mother country.
At various times but especially in the beginning of year 1872, the
authorities received anonymous communications with the information that
a great uprising would break out against the Spaniards, the minute the fleet
at Cavite left for the South, and that all would be assassinated, including
the friars. But nobody gave importance to these notices. The conspiracy had
been going on since the days of La Torre with utmost secrecy. At times, the
principal leaders met either in the house of Filipino Spaniard, D. Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera, or in that of the native priest, Jacinto Zamora, and these
meetings were usually attended by the curate of Bacoor, the soul of the
movement, whose energetic character and immense wealth enabled him to
exercise a strong influence.

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Primary Source: Excerpts from the Official Report of Governor
Izquierdo on the Cavite Mutiny of 1872
... it seems definite that the insurrection was motivated and prepared
by the native clergy, by the mestizos and native lawyers, and by those
known here as abogadillos…
The instigators, to carry out their criminal project, protested against
the injustice of the government in not paying the provinces for their tobacco
crop, and against the usury that some practice in documents that the
Finance department gives crop owners who have to sell them at a loss. They
encouraged the rebellion by protesting what they called the injustice of
having obliged the workers in the Cavite arsenal to pay tribute starting
January 1 and to render personal services, from which they were formerly
exempted…
Up to now it has not been clearly determined if they planned to
establish a monarchy or a republic, because the Indios have no word in
their language to describe this different form of government, whose head in
Filipino would be called hari; but it turns out that they would place at the
head of the government a priest…that the head selected would be D. Jose
Burgos, or D. Jacinto Zamora…
It is apparent that the accounts underscore the reason for the
“revolution”: the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the workers of the Cavite
arsenal such as exemption from payment of tribute a send being employed
in polo y servicios, or force labor. They also identified other reasons which
seemingly made the issue a lot more serious, which included the presence of
the native clergy, who, out of spite against the Spanish friars, “conspired
and supported” the rebels. Izquierdo, in an obviously biased report,
highlighted that attempt to overthrow the Spanish government in the
Philippines to install a new “hari” in the persons of Fathers Burgos and
Zamora. According to him, native clergy attracted supporters by giving them
charismatic assurance that their fight would not fail because they had God’s
support, aside from promises of lofty rewards such as employment, wealth,
and ranks in the army.
In the Spaniard’s accounts, the event of 1872 was premeditated, and
was part of a big conspiracy among the educated leaders, mestizos, lawyers,
and residents of Manila and Cavite. They allegedly plan to liquidate high
ranking Spanish officers, then kill the friars. The signal they identified
among these conspirators of Manila and Cavite was the rockets fired from
Intramuros.
The accounts detail that on 20 January 1872, the district of
Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of Loreto, and came with it were
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some fireworks display. The Caviteňos allegedly mistook this as the signal to
commence with the attack. The 200-men contingent led by Sergeant
Lamadrid attacked Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal.
Izquierdo, upon learning of the attack, ordered the reinforcement of the
Spanish forces in Cavite to quell the revolt. The “revolution” was easily
crushed, when the Manileňos who were expected to aid the Caviteňos did
not arrive. Leaders of the plot were killed in the resulting skirmish, while
Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were tried by a court martial and
sentenced to be executed. Others who were implicated such as Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor, Jose and Pio Basa, and other Filipino
lawyers were suspended from the practice of law, arrested, and senteced to
life imprisonment at the Marianas Island. Izquierdo dissolved the native
regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of an artillery force composed
exclusively by Peninsulares.
On the 17 February 1872, the GOMBURZA were executed to serve as
a threat to Filipinos never to attempt to fight the Spaniards again.

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https://www.slideshare.net/joeyvaldriz/philippine-heroes-117435542
Differing Accounts of the Events of 1872

Two other primary accounts exist that seem to counter the accounts
of Izquierdo and Montero. First, the account of Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo
Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar and researcher, who wrote a Filipino
version of the bloody incident in Cavite.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Pardo de Tavera’s Account of the Cavite
Mutiny
This uprising among the soldiers in Cavite was used as a powerful
level by the Spanish residents and by the friars…the Central Government in
Madrid had announced its intention to deprive the friars in these islands of
powers of intervention in matters of civil government and of the direction
and management of the university…it was due to these facts and promises
that the Filipinos had great hopes of an improvement in the affairs of their
country, while the friars, on the other hand, feared that their power in the
colony would soon be complete a thing of the past.
...Up to that time there had been no intention of secession from
Spain, and the only aspiration of the people was to secure the material and
education advancement of the country…
According to this account, the incident was merely a mutiny by
Filipino soldiers and laborers of the Cavite arsenal to the dissatisfaction
arising from the draconian policies of Izquierdo, such as the abolition of
privileges and the prohibition of the founding of the school of arts and
trades fro Filipinos, which the General saw as a smokescreen to creating a
political club.
Tavera is of the option that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used the
Cavite Mutiny as a way to address other issues by blowing out of proportion
the isolated mutiny attempt. During this time, the Central Government in
Madrid was planning to deprive the friars of all powers of intervention in
matters of civil government and direction and management of educational
institutions. The friars needed something to justify their continuing
dominance in the country, and the mutiny provided such opportunity.
However, the Central Spanish Government introduced an educational
decree fusing sectarian schools run by the friars into a school called the
Philippine Institute. The decree aimed to improve the standard of education
in the Philippines by requiring teaching positions in these schools to be
filled by competitive examinations, an improvement welcomed by most
Filipinos.

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Another account, this time by French writer Edmund Plauchut,
complemented Tavera’s account and analyzed the motivations of the 1872
Cavity Mutiny.
Primary Source: Excerpts from Plauchut’s Account of the Cavite
Mutiny
General La Torre…created a junta composed of high officials…
including some friars and six Spanish officials… At the same time there was
created by the government in Madrid a committee to investigate submitted
to the Manila committee. When the two finished work, it was found that they
came to the same conclusions. Here is the summary of the reforms they
considered necessary to introduced:
1. Changes in tariff rates at customs, and the methods of collection.
2. Removal of surcharges on foreign importations.
3. Reduction of export fees.
4. Permission for foreigners to reside in the Philippines, buy real estate,
enjoy freedom of worship, and operate commercial transports flying the
Spanish flag.
5. Establishment of an advisory council to inform the Minister of Overseas
Affairs in Madrid on the necessary reforms to be implemented.
6. Changes in primary and secondary education.
7. Establishment of an Institute of Civil Administration in the Philippines,
rendering unnecessary the sending home of short-term civil official s every
time there is a change of ministry.
8. Study of direct-tax system.
9. Abolition of the tobacco monopoly.
...The arrival in Manila of General Izquierdo…put a sudden end to all
dreams of reforms…the prosecutions instituted by the new Governor
General were probably expected as a result of the bitter disputes between
the Filipino clerics and the friars. Such a policy must really end in a strong
desire on the part of the other to repress cruelly.
In regard to schools, it was previously decreed that there should be in
Manila a Society of Arts and Trades to be opened in March of 1871… to
repress the growth of liberal teachings, General Izquierdo suspended the
opening of the school…the day previous to the scheduled inauguration…
The Filipino had a duty to render service on public roads construction
and pay taxes every year. But those who were employed at the maestranza
of the artillery, in the engineering shops and arsenal of Cavite, were
exempted from this obligation from time immemorial…Without preliminaries
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of any kind, a decree by the Governor withdrew from such old employees
their retirement privileges and declassified them into the ranks of those who
worked on public roads.
The friars used the incident as a part of a larger conspiracy to cement
their dominance, which had started to show cracks because of the
discontent of the Filipinos. They showcased the mutiny as part of a greater
conspiracy in the Philippines by Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish
Government. Unintentionally, and more so, prophetically, the Cavite Mutiny
of 1872 resulted in the martyrdom of GOMBURZA, and paved the way to the
revolution culminating in 1898.
The GOMBURZA is the collective name of the three martyred priests

Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora, who were tagged as
the masterminds of the Cavity Mutiny. They were prominent Filipino
priests charged with treason and sedition. It is believed that the Spanish
clergy connected the priests to the mutiny as part of a conspiracy to stifle
the movement of secular priests who desired to have their own parishes
instead of being merely assistants to the regular friars. The GOMBURZA
were executed by garrote in public, a scene purportedly witnessed by a
young Jose Rizal.
Their martyrdom is widely accepted as the dawn of Philippine nationalism
in the nineteenth century, with Rizal dedicating his second novel, El
Filibusterismo to their memory:
“The Government, by enshrouding your trial in mystery and
pardoning your co-accused, has suggested that some mistake was
committed when your fate was decided; and the whole of the Philippines,
in paying homage to your memory and calling you martyrs, totally rejects
your guilt. The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has put in doubt the
crime charged against you. ”

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https://www.bayaniart.com/gomburza/
MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4


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Case Study 3:
Did Rizal Retract?

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Case Study 3: Did Rizal Retract?

TOPIC:
1. The Balaguer Testimony

2. The Testimony of Cuerpo de Vigilancia
3. Primary Source: Eyewitness Account of the Last Hours of Rizal
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj83eZR3BpM

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Case Study 3: Did Rizal Retract?
historical text.
primary sources.
Introduction:
Jose Rizal is identified as a hero of the revolution for his writings that
center on ending colonialism and liberating Filipino minds to contribute to
creating the Filipino nation. The great volume of Rizal’s lifework was
committed to this end, particularly the more influential ones, Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo. His essays vilify not the Catholic religion, but
the friars, the main agents of injustice in the Philippine society.
It is understandable, therefore, that any piece of writing from Rizal
that recants everything he wrote against the friars and the Catholic Church
in the Philippines could deal heavy damage to his image as a prominent
Filipino revolutionary. Such document purportedly exists, allegedly signed
by Rizal a few hours before his execution. This document, referred to as “The
Retraction,” declares Rizal’s belief in the Catholic faith, and retracts
everything he wrote against the Church.
Primary Source: Rizal’s Retraction
C. M. on 18 May 1935
I declare myself a catholic and in this Religion in which I was born
and educated I wish to live and die.
I retract with all my heart whatever in my words, writings,
publications and conduct has been contrary to my character as son of
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the Catholic Church. I believe and I confess whatever she teaches and
I submit to whatever she demands. I abominate Masonry, as the
enemy which is of the Church, and as a Society prohibited by the
Church. The Diocesan Prelate may, as the Superior Ecclesiastical
Authority, make public this spontaneous manifestation of mine in
order to repair the scandal which my acts may have caused and so
that God and people may pardon me.
Manila 29 of December of 1896

Jose Rizal
http://torch-of-salvation.blogspot.com/2013/10/regarding-dr-jose-
rizals-alleged.html
There are four iterations of the texts of this retraction: the first was
published in La Voz Espaňola and Diario de Manila on the day of the

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execution, 30 December 1896. The second text appeared in Barcelona,
Spain, in the magazine La Juventud, a few months after the execution, 14
February 1897, from an anonymous writer who was later on revealed to be
Fr. Vicente Balaguer. However, the “original” text was only found in the
archdiocesan archives on 18 May 1935, after almost four decades of
disappearance.
The Balaguer Testimony
Doubts on the retraction document abound, especially because only
eyewitness account of the writing of the document exists--- that of the Jesuit
friar Fr. Vicente Balaguer. According to his testimony, Rizal woke up several
times, confessed four times, attended a Mass, received communion, and
prayed the rosary, all of which seemed out of character. But since it is the
only testimony of allegedly a “primary” account that Rizal ever wrote a
retraction document, it has been used to argue the authenticity of the
document.
The Testimony of Cuerpo de Vigilancia
Another eyewitness account surfaced in 2016, through the research of
Professor Rene R. Escalante. In his research, documents of the Cuerpo de
Vigilancia included a report on the last hours of Rizal, written by Federico
Moreno. The report details the statement of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia to
Moreno.
Primary Sources: Eyewitness Account of the Last Hours of Rizal
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, Seňor Taviel de Andrade, and the Jesuit priest Vilaclara. At
the urgings of the former and moments after entering, he was served a light
breakfast. At approximately 9, the Assistant of the Plaza, Seňor 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 March.
Seňor 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,
Seňor del Fresno and the Assistant of the Plaza, Seňor Maure, were
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informed. They entered death row and together with Rizal signed the
document that the accused had written.
At 5 this morning of the 30 th, the lover of Rizal arrived at the prison…
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.
https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/7810999332794069/
This account corroborates the existence of the retraction document,
giving it credence. However, nowhere in the account was Fr. Balaguer
mentioned, which makes the friar a mere secondary source to the writing of
the document.
The retraction of Rizal remains to this day, a controversy; many
scholars, however, agree that the document does not tarnish the heroism fo
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Rizal. His relevance remained solidified to Filipinos and pushed them to
continue the revolution, which eventually resulted in independence in 1898.
Rizal’s Connection to the Katipunan is undeniable---in fact, the

precursor of the Katipunan as an organization is the La Liga Filipina, an
organization Rizal founded, with Andres Bonifacio as one of its members.
But La Liga Filipina was short-lived as the Spaniards exiled Rizal to
Dapitan. Former members decided to band together to establish the
Katipunan a few days after Rizal’s exile on 7 July 1892.
Rizal may not have been officially part of the Katipunan, but the
Katipuneros showed great appreciation of his work toward the same goals.
Out of the 28 members of the leadership of the Katipunan (known as the
Kataas-taasang Sanggunian ng Katipuna) from 1892 to 1896, 13 were
former members of La Liga Filipina. Katipuneros even used Rizal’s name as
a password.
In 1896, the Katipuneros decided to inform Rizal of their plans to
launch the revolution, and sent Pio Valenzuela to visit Rizal in Dapitan.
Valenzuela’s accounts of his meeting with Rizal have been greatly doubted
by many scholars, but according to him, Rizal objected to the plans, saying
that doing so would be tantamount to suicide since it would be difficult to
fight the Spaniards who had the advantage of military resources. He added
that the leaders of the Katipunan must do everything they could to prevent
the spilling of Filipino blood. Valenzuela informed Rizal that the revolution
could inevitably break out if the Katipunan were to be discovered by the
Spaniards. Rizal advised Valenzuela that the Katipunan should first secure
the support of wealthy Filipinos to strengthen their cause, and suggested
that Antonio Luna be recruited to direct the military movement of the
revolution.

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MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4


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Case Study 4:
Where Did the Cry of
Rebellion Happen?

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Case Study 4: Where Did the Cry of Rebellion
Happen?

TOPIC:
1. Different Dates and Places of the Cry

A. Primary Source: Accounts of the Cry
I. Guillermo Magsangkay
II. Pio Valenzuela
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
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https://philippinefolklifemuseum.org/portfolio-items/andres-bonifacio/
attachment/bonifacio-cry_of_pugadlawin-1896/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cry_of_Pugad_Lawin_01.jpgW
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/523/today-in-philippine-history-
august-23-1896-katipuneros-led-by-andres-bonifacio-tore-their-cedulas

Case Study 4: Where Did the Cry of Rebellion Happen?
historical text.
primary sources.
Introduction:
Various accounts of the Cry give different dates and places. A guardia
civil, Lt. Olegario Diaz, identified the Cry to have happened in Balintawak on
25 August 1896. Teodoro Kalaw, Filipino historian, marks the place to be in
Kangkong, Balintawak, on the last week of August 1896. Santiago Alvarez, a
Katipunero and son of Mariano Alvarez, leader of the Magdiwang faction in
Cavite, put the Cry in Bahay Toro in Quezon City on 24 August 1896. Pio
Valenzuela, known Katipunero and privy to many events concerning the
Katipunan stated that the Cry happened in Pugad Lawin on 23 August
1896. Historian Gregorio Zaide identified the Cry to have happened in

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Balintawak on 26 August 1896, while Teodoro Agoncillo put it at Pugad
Lawin on 23 August 1896, according to statements by Pio Valenzuela.
Research by historians Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnacion, and
Ramon Villegas claimed that the event took place in Tandang Sora’s barn in
Gulod, Barangay Banlat, Quezon City, on 24 August 1896.
Primary Source: Accounts of the Cry
Guillermo Masangkay
On August 26th, a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of
Apolonio Samson, then cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who
attended, I remember, were Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Rosario,
Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique
Pacheco, and Francisco Carreon. They were all leaders of the Katipunan and
composed the board of directors of the organization. Delegates from
Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong were also present.
At about nine o’clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was
opened with Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as
secretary. The purpose was to discuss when the uprising was to take place.
Teodoro Plata, Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela were all opposed to
starting the revolution too early… Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he would
lose in the discussion then, left session hall and talked to the people, who
were waiting outside for the result of the meeting of the leaders. He told the
people that the leaders were arguing against starting the revolutionary early,
and appealed to them in a fiery speech in which he said:” You remember the
fate of our countrymen who were shot in Bagumbayan. Should we return
now to the towns, the Spaniards will only shoot us. Our organization has
been discovered and we are all marked men. If we don’t start the uprising,
the Spaniards will get us anyway. What then, do you say?”
“Revolt!” the people shouted as one.
Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to
revolt. He told them that the sign of slavery of the Filipinos were (sic)the
cedula tax charged each citizen. “If it is true that you are ready to revolt…I
want to see you destroy your cedulas. It will be a sign that all of us have
declared our severance from the Spaniards.”

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Pio Valenzuela
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio
Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak,
the first five arriving there on August 19, and I, on August 20, 1896. The
first place where some 500 members of the Katipunan met on August 22,
1896, was the house and yard of Apolonia Samson at Kangkong. Aside from
the persons mentioned above, among those who were there were Briccio
Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson, and others.
Here, views were only exchanged, and no resolution was debated or adopted.
It was at Pugad Lawin, the house, store-house, and yard of Juan Ramos,
son of Melchora Aquino, where over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met
and carried out considerable debate and discussion on August 23, 1896.
The discussion was on whether or not the revolution against the Spanish
government should be started on August 29, 1896…After the tumultuous
meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted
“Long live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!”
From the eyewitness accounts presented, there is indeed marked
disagreement among historical witness as to the place and time of the
occurrence of the Cry. Using primary and secondary sources, four places
have been identified: Balintawak, Kangkong, Pugad Lawin, and Bahay Toro,
while the dates vary: 23, 24, 25, or 26 August 1896.
Valenzuela’s account should be read with caution: He once told a
Spanish investigator that the “Cry” happened in Balintawak on Wednesday,
26 August 1896. Much later, he wrote in his Memoirs of the Revolution that
it happened at Pugad Lawin on 23 August 1896. Such inconsistencies in
accounts should always be seen as a red flag when dealing with primary
sources.
According to Guerrero, Encarnacion, and Villegas, all these places are
in Balintawak, then part of Caloocan, now, in Quezon City. As for the dates,

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Bonifacio and his troops may have been moving from one place to another to
avoid being located by the Spanish government, which could explain why
there are several accounts of the Cry.

MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4


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1897:
Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato

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http://www.ivanhenares.com/2011/04/bulacan-san-miguel-heritage-town-
and.html
MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: 1897: Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato

 Effectively communicate, using various techniques and genres, historical
analysis of a particular event or issue that could help others understand
the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
1. Evolution of the Philippine Constitution
 Primary Source: Preamble of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution
1. Quizzes

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REFERENCE/S:
Veronica C. Alporha, pp.72-73
https://www.slideshare.net/MarcyTrinidad/biak-na-bato-pact-slideshare

1897: Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato
 To analyze social, political, economic, and cultural issues in the
Philippines using the lens of history.
 To recognize that the problems of today are consequences of decisions
and events that happened in the past.
 To understand several enduring issues in Philippine society through
history.
 To propose recommendations or solutions to present day problems based
on the understanding of the past and anticipation of the future through
the study of history.
Introduction:
This chapter is dedicated to enduring issues in Philippine society,
which history could lend a hand in understanding, and hopefully, proposing
solutions. These topics include the mandated discussion on the Philippine
constitution, policies on agrarian reform, and taxation. It is hoped that these
discussions will help us propose recommendations or solutions to present
day problems based on our understanding of root causes and how we
anticipate future scenarios in the Philippine setting.

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Evolution of the Philippine Constitution
The constitution is defined as a set of fundamental principles or
established precedents according to which a state or other organization is
governed, thus, the word itself means to be part of a whole, the coming
together of distinct entities into one group, with the same principles and
ideals. These principles define the nature and extent of government.
The Constitution of the Philippines, the supreme law of the Republic
of the Philippines, has been in effect since 1987. There were only three other
constitutions that have effectively governed the country: the 1935
Commonwealth Constitution, the 1973 Constitution, and the 1986 Freedom
Constitution. However, there were earlier constitutions attempted by
Filipinos in the struggle to break free from the colonial yoke.
1897: Constitution of Biak-na-Bato
The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was the provisionary Constitution of
the Philippine Republic during the Philippine Revolution, and was
promulgated by the Philippine Revolutionary Government on 1 November
1897. The constitution, borrowed from Cuba, was written by Isabelo Artacho
and Felix Ferrer in Spanish, and later on, translated into Tagalog.
The organs of the government under the Constitution were: (1)the
Supreme Council, which was vested with the power of the Republic, headed
by the president and four department secretaries: the interior, foreign
affairs, treasury, and war; (2)the Consejo Supremo de Gracia Y Justicia
( Supreme Council of Grace and Justice), which was given the authority to
make decisions and affirm or disprove the sentences rendered by other
courts and to dictate rules for the administration of justice; and (3) the
Asamblea de Representantes (Assembly of Representatives), which was to be
convened after the revolution to create a new Constitution and to elect a new
Council of Government and Representatives of the people.
The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented, since
a truce, the Pact of Biak-na-Bato, was signed between the Spanish and the
Philippine Revolutionary Army.
Primary Source: Preamble of the Biak-na-Bato Constitution

The separation of the Philippines from the Spanish monarchy and
their formation into an independent state with its own government called
the Philippine Republic has been the end sought by the Revolution in the
existing war, begun on the 24th of August, 1896; and, therefore, in its name
and by the power delegated by the Filipino people, interpreting faithfully
their desires and ambitions, we the representatives of the Revolution, in a
meeting at Biak-na- Bato, November 1, 1897, unanimously adopted the
following articles for the constitution of the State.

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MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules
No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4


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1899: Malolos Constitution

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: 1899: Malolos Constitution

the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
Primary Source: Preamble of the Political Constitution of 1899

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1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/constitution-day/
https://www.emaze.com/@AZIRRRRQ

1899: Malolos Constitution
history.

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Introduction:
After the signing of the truce, the Filipino revolutionary leaders
accepted a payment from Spain and went to exile in Hongkong. Upon the
defeat of the Spanish to the Americans in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May
1898, the United States Navy transported Aguinaldo back to the Philippines.
The newly reformed Philippine revolutionary forces reverted to the control of
Aguinaldo, and the Philippine Declaration of Independence was issued on 12
June 1898, together with several decrees that formed the First Philippine
Republic. The Malolos Congress was elected, which selected a commission to
draw up a draft constitution on 17 September 1898, which was composed of
wealthy and educated men.
The document they came up with, approved by the Congress on 29
November 1898, and promulgated by Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899, was
titled “The Political Constitution of 1899” and written in Spanish. The
constitution has 39 articles divided into 14 titles, with eight articles of
transitory provisions, and a final additional article. The document was
patterned after the Spanish Constitution of 1812, with influences from the
charters of Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala,
and the French Constitution of 1793. According to Felipe Calderon, main
author of the constitution, these countries were studied because they
shared similar social, political, ethnological, and governance conditions with
the Philippines. Prior constitutional projects in the Philippines also
influenced the Malolos Constitution, namely, the Kartilya and the
Sanggunian- Hukuman, the charter of laws and morals of the Katipunan
written by Emilio Jacinto in 1896; the Biak-na-Bato Constitution of 1897
planned by Isabelo Artacho; Mabini’s Constitutional Program of the
Philippine Republic of 1898; the provisional constitution of Mariano Ponce
in 1898 that followed the Spanish constitutions; and the autonomy projects
of Paterno in 1898.

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Primary Source: Preamble of the Political Constitution of 1899
We, the Representatives of the Filipino People, lawfully convened, in
order to establish justice, provide for common defense, promote the general
welfare and ensure 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.
As a direct challenge to colonial authorities of the Spanish empire,
the sovereignty was retroverted to the people, a legal principle underlying
the Philippine Revolution. The people delegated governmental functions to
civil servants while they retained actual sovereignty. The 27 articles of Title
IV detail the natural rights and popular sovereignty of Filipinos, the
enumeration of which does not imply the prohibition of any other rights not
expressly stated. Title III, Article V also declares that the State recognizes
the freedom and equality of all beliefs, as well as the separation of Church
and State. These are direct reactions to features of the Spanish government
in the Philippines, where the friars were dominant agents of the State.
The form of government, according to Title II, Article 4 is to be
popular, representative, alternative, and responsible, and shall exercise
three distinct powers---legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative
power was vested in a unicameral body called the Assembly of
Representatives, members of which are elected for terms of four years.
Secretaries of the government were given seats in the assembly which meet
annually for a period of at least three months. Bills could be introduced
either by the president or by a member of the assembly. Some powers not
legislative in nature were also given to the body, such as the right to select
its own officers, right of censure and interpellation, and the right of
impeaching the president, cabinet members, the chief justice of the
Supreme Court, and the solicitor-general. A permanent commission of
seven, elected by the assembly, and granted specific powers by the
constitution, was to sit during the intervals between sessions of the
assembly.
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Executive power was vested in the president, and elected by a
constituent assembly of the Assembly of Representatives and special
representatives. The president will serve a term of four years without re-
election. There was no vice president, and in case of a vacancy, a president
was to be selected by the constituent assembly.
The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing
war. The Philippines was effectively a territory of the United States upon the
signing of the Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United States,
transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on 10 December 1898.

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1935:
The Commonwealth
Constitution
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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: 1935: The Commonwealth Constitution

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the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
Primary Source: Preamble of the 1935 Commonwealth
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/the-commonwealth-of-the-philippines/
https://slideplayer.com/slide/10613876/
https://www.slideshare.net/tmalit1/commonwealth-of-the-republic-of-the-
philippines

1935: The Commonwealth Constitution

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history.
Introduction:
It is worth mentioning that after the Treaty of Paris, the Philippines
was subject to the power of the United States of America, effectively the new
colonizers of the country. From 1898 to 1901, the Philippines would be
placed under a military government until a civil government would be put
into place.
1935: The Commonwealth Constitution

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Two acts of the United States Congress were passed that may be
considered to have qualities of constitutionality. First was the Philippine
Organic Act 1902, the first organic law for the Philippine Islands that
provided for the creation of a popularly elected Philippine Assembly. The act
specified that legislative power would be vested in a bicameral legislature
composed of the Philippine Commission as the upper house and the
Philippine Assembly as lower house. Key provisions of the act included a bill
of rights for Filipinos and the appointment of two non-voting Filipino
Resident Commissioners of the Philippines as representative to the United
States House of Representatives. The second act that functioned as a
constitution was the Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916, commonly referred to
as “Jones Law,” which modified the structure of the Philippine government
through the removal of the Philippine Commission, replacing it with a
Senate that served as the upper house and its members elected by the
Filipino voters, the first truly elected national legislature. It was also this Act
that explicitly declared the purpose of the United States to end their
sovereignty over the Philippines and recognize Philippine independence as
soon as a stable government can be established.
In 1932, with the efforts of the Filipino independence mission led by
Sergio Osmeňa and Manuel Roxas, the United States Congress passed the
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act with the promise of granting Filipinos’
independence. The bill was opposed by then Senate President Manuel L.
Quezon and consequently, rejected by the Philippine Senate.
By 1934, another law, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, also known as the
Philippine Independence Act, was passed by the United States Congress that
provided authority and defined mechanisms for the establishment of a
formal constitution by a constitutional convention. The members of the
convention were elected and held their first meeting on 30 July 1934, with
Claro M. Recto unanimously elected as president.
The constitution was crafted to meet the approval of the United States
government, and to ensure that the United States would live up to its
promise to grant independence to the Philippines.
Primary Source: Preamble of the 1935 Commonwealth
The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to
establish a government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop
the patrimony of the nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to
themselves and their posterity the blessings of independence under a regime
of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain and promulgate this
constitution.
The constitution created the Commonwealth of the Philippines, an
administrative body that governed the Philippine from 1935 to 1946. It is a
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transitional administration to prepare the country toward its full
achievement of independence. It originally provided for a unicameral
National Assembly with a president and vice president elected to a six-year
term without re-election. It was amended in 1940 to have a bicameral
Congress composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives, as well as
the creation of an independent electoral commission, and limited the term of
office of the president and vice president to four years, with one re-election.
Rights to suffrage were originally afforded to male citizens of the Philippines
who are twenty-one years of age or over and are able to read and write; this
was later on extended to women within two years after the adoption of the
constitution.
While the dominant influence in the constitution was American, it also
bears traces of the Malolos Constitution, the German, Spanish, and Mexican
constitutions, constitutions of several South American countries, and the
unwritten English Constitution.
The draft of the constitution was approved by the constitutional
convention on 8 February 1935, and ratified by then U.S. President Franklin
B. Roosevelt on 25 March 1935. Elections were held in September 1935 and
Manuel L. Quezon was elected President of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth was briefly interrupted by the events of the World
War II, with the Japanese occupying the Philippines. Afterward, upon
liberation, the Philippines was declared an independent republic on 4 July
1946.errr;’[wqklllllllllllllllll

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MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
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2 Hist 213-2

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1973:
Constitutional
Authoritarianism

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: 1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism

the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Marcos
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marcos_Declares_Martial_Law.jpg
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/declaration-of-martial-law/

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1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism
history.
Introduction:
In 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president, and in 1967,
Philippine Congress passed a resolution calling for a constitutional
convention to change the 1935 Constitution. Marcos won the re-election in
1969, in a bid boosted by campaign overspending and use of government
funds. Elections of the delegates to the constitutional convention were held
on 20 November 1970, and the convention began formally on 1 June 1971,
with former President Carlos P. Garcia being elected as convention
president. Unfortunately, he died, and was succeeded by another former
president, Diosdado Macapagal.
Before the convention finished its work, Martial Law was declared.
Marcos cited a growing communist insurgency as reason for the Martial
Law, which was provided for in the 1935 Constitution. Some delegates of the
ongoing constitutional convention were placed behind bars and others went
into hiding or were voluntary exiled. With Marcos as dictator, the direction
of the convention turned, with accounts that the president himself dictated
some provisions of the constitution, manipulating the document to be able
to hold on to power for as long as he could. On 29 November 1972, the
convention approved its proposed constitution.

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The constitution was supposed to introduce a parliamentary- style
government, where legislative power was vested in a unicameral National
Assembly, with members being elected to a six-year term. The president was
to be elected as the symbolic and ceremonial head of state chosen from the
members of the National Assembly. The president would serve a six-year
term and could be re-elected to an unlimited number of terms. Executive
power was relegated to the Prime Minister, who was also the head of
government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces who was also to
be elected from the National Assembly.
President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 73 setting the date of
the plebiscite to ratify or reject the proposed constitution on 30 November
1973. This plebiscite was postponed later on since Marcos feared that the
public might vote to reject the constitution. Instead of a plebiscite, Citizen
Assemblies were held, from 10-15 January 1973, where the citizens coming
together and voting by hand, decided on whether to ratify the constitution,
suspend the convening of the Interim National Assembly, continue Martial
Law, or place a moratorium on elections for a period of at least several
years. The President, on 17 January 1973, issued a proclamation
announcing that the proposed constitution had been ratified by an
overwhelming vote of the members of the highly irregular Citizen
Assemblies.
The constitution was amended several times. In 1976, Citizen
Assemblies, once again, decided to allow the continuation of Martial Law, as
well as approved the amendments: An Interim Batasang Pambansa to
substitute for the Interim National Assembly, the president to also become
the Prime Minister and continue to exercise legislative powers until Martial
Law was lifted and authorized the President to legislate on his own on an
emergency basis. An overwhelming majority would ratify further
amendments succeedingly. In 1980, the retirement age of members of the
judiciary was extended to 70 years. 1981, the parliamentary system was
formally modified to a French-style, semi-presidential system where
executive power was restored to the president, who was, once again, to be
directly elected; an Executive Committee was to be created, composed of the
Prime Minister and 14 others, that served as the President’s Cabinet; and
some electoral reforms were instituted. In 1984, the Executive Committee
was abolished and the position of the vice president was restored.

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After all the amendment introduced, the 1973 Constitution was
merely a way for the President to keep executive powers, abolish the Senate,
and by any means, never acted as a parliamentary system, instead
functioned as an authoritarian presidential system, with all the real power
concentrated in the hands of the president, with the backing of the
constitution.
The situation in the 1980s had been very turbulent. As Marcos
amassed power, discontent has also been burgeoning. The tide turned
swiftly when in August 1983, Benigno Aquino Jr., opposition leader and
regarded as the most credible alternative to President Marcos, was
assassinated while under military escort immediately after his return from
exile in the United States. There was widespread suspicion that the orders
to assassinate Aquino came from the top levels of the government and the
military. This event caused the coming together of the non-violent opposition
against the Marcos authoritarian regime. Marcos was then forced to hold
“snap” elections a year early, and said elections were marred by widespread
fraud. Marcos declared himself winner despite international condemnation
and nationwide protests. A small group of military rebels attempted to stage
a coup, but failed; however, this triggered what came to be known as the
EDSA People Power Revolution of 1986, as people from all walks of life
spilled onto the streets. Under pressure from the United States of America,
who used to support Marcos and his Martial Law, the Marcos family fled
into exile. His opponent in the snap elections, Benigno Aquino Jr.’s widow,
Corazon Aquino, was installed as president on 25 February 1986.

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1987:
Constitution After the Martial
Law

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: 1987: Constitution After the Martial Law

the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
1987: Constitution After the Martial Law
A. Attempts to Amend or Change the 1987 Constitution
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:

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https://rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/need-1987-philippines-constitution-
charter-change

1987: Constitution After the Martial Law
history.
Introduction:
President Corazon Aquino’s government had three options regarding
the constitution: revert to the 1935 Constitution, retain the 1973
Constitution and be granted the power to make reforms, or start anew and
break from the “vestiges of a disgraced dictatorship.” They decided to make
a new constitution that, according to the president herself, should be “truly
reflective of the aspirations and ideals of the Filipino people.”

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http://malacanang.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/PowerToTheRegions.pdf
1987: Constitution After Martial Law

In MARCH 1986, President Aquino proclaimed a transitional
constitution to last for a year while a Constitutional Commission drafted a
permanent constitution. This transitional constitution, called the Freedom
Constitution, maintained many provisions of the old one, including in
rewritten form the presidential right to rule by decree. In 1986, a
constitutional convention was created, composed of 48 members appointed
by President Aquino from varied backgrounds and representations. The
convention drew up a permanent constitution, largely restoring the setup
abolished by Marcos in 1972, but with new ways to keep the president in
check, a reaction to the experience of Marcos’s rule. The new constitution
was officially adopted on 2 February 1987.
The Constitution begins with a preamble and eighteen self-contained
articles. I t established the Philippines as a “democratic republican State”
where “sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them.” It allocates governmental powers among the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government.
The Executive branch is headed by the president and his cabinet,
whom he appoints. The president is the head of the state and the chief
executive, but his power is limited by significant checks from the two other
co-equal branches of the government, especially during times of emergency.
This is put in place to safeguard the country form the experience of martial
despotism during the presidency of Marcos. In cases of national emergency,
the president may still declare martial law, but not longer than a period of
sixty days. Congress, through a majority vote, can revoke this decision, or

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extend it for a period that they determine. The Supreme Court may also
review the declaration of martial law and decide if there were sufficient
justifying facts for the act. The president and the vice president are elected
at large by a direct vote, serving a single six-year term.
The legislative power resides in a Congress divided into two Houses:
The Senate and the House of Representatives. The 24 senators are elected at
large by popular vote, and can serve no more than two consecutive six-year
terms. The House is composed of district representatives representing a
particular geographic area and makes up around 80% of the total number of
representatives. There are 234 legislative districts in the Philippines that
elect their representatives to serve three-year terms. The 1987 Constitution
created a party-list system to provide spaces for the participation of under-
represented community sectors or groups. Party-list representatives may fill
up not more than 20% of the seats in the House.
Aside from the exclusive power of legislation, Congress may also
declare war, through a two-thirds vote in both upper and lower houses. The
power of legislation, however, is also subject to an executive check, as the
president retains the power to veto or stop a bill from becoming a law.
Congress may only override this power with a two-thirds vote in both
houses.
The Philippine Court system is vested with the power of the judiciary,
and is composed of a Supreme Court and lower courts as created by law.
The Supreme Court is a 15-member court appointed by the president
without the need to be confirmed by Congress. The appointment the
president makes, however, is limited to a list of nominees provided by a
constitutionally specified Judicial and Bar Council. The Supreme Court
Justices may hear, on appeal, any cases dealing with the constitutionality of
any law, treaty, or decree of the government, cases where questions of
jurisdiction or judicial error are concerned, or cases where the penalty is
sufficiently grave. It may also exercise original jurisdiction over cases
involving government or international officials. The Supreme Court is also in
charge of overseeing the functioning and administration of the lower courts
and their personnel.
The Constitution also established three independent Constitutional
Commissions, namely, the Civil Service Commission, a central agency in
charge of government personnel; the Commission on Elections, mandated to
enforce and administer all election laws and regulations; and the
Commission on Audit, which examines all funds, transactions, and property
accounts of the government and its agencies.
To further promote the ethical and lawful conduct of the government,
the Office of the Ombudsman was created to investigate complaints that

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pertain to public corruption, unlawful behavior of public officials, and other
public misconduct. The Ombudsman can charge public officials before the
Sandiganbayan, a special court created for this purpose.
http://oneocean.org/overseas/200901/
the_legal_bases_of_coastal_and_fisheries_resource_management.html
Changing the Constitution is a perennial issue that crops up, and terms
such as “Cha-Cha,””Con-Ass,” and “Con-Con” are regularly thrown around.
Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution provides for three ways by which the
Constitution can be changed.
Congress (House of Representatives and the Senate) may convene as a
Constituent Assembly (or Con-Ass) to propose amendments to the
Constitution. It is not clear, however, if Congress is to vote as a single body
or separately. How the Congress convenes as a Con-Ass is also not
provided for in the Constitution.
Another method is through the Constitutional Convention (or Con-Con),
where Congress, upon a vote of two-thirds of all its members, calls for a
constitutional convention. They may also submit to the electorate the
question of calling a convention through a majority vote of all its members.
In a Con-Con, delegates will propose amendments of revisions to the
constitution, not Congress. The 1987 Constitution does not provide for a
method by which delegates to the Con-Con are chosen.
The third method is called the “People’s Initiative” (or P.I.). In this method,
amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the people upon a
petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters. All
legislative districts must be represented by at least 12% of the registered
votes therein. No amendment is allowed more than once every five years
since a successful Bulacan Date Developed:
BachelorP.I.of The 1987 Constitution
Polytechni
directs the Congress to enact
July 2020
a law to Science
implement provisions of the P.I., Date
which Page 122 of
has not yet materialized.
Revised:
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Amendments Management
or revision toCollege
the constitution shall be valid only when
aReadings in
ratified byPhilippine
majority of the votes
History
cast in a
Document national
Developed by: referendum.
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Changing the Constitution is a perennial issue that crops up, and terms
such as “Cha-Cha,” ”Con-Ass,” and “Con-Con” are regularly thrown
around. Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution provides for three ways by
which the Constitution can be changed.
Congress (House of Representatives and the Senate) may convene as a
Constituent Assembly (or Con-Ass) to propose amendments to the
Constitution. It is not clear, however, if Congress is to vote as a single body
or separately. How the Congress convenes as a Con-Ass is also not
provided for in the Constitution.
Another method is through the Constitutional Convention (or Con-Con),
where Congress, upon a vote of two-thirds of all its members, calls for a
constitutional convention. They may also submit to the electorate the
question of calling a convention through a majority vote of all its members.
In a Con-Con, delegates will propose amendments of revisions to the
constitution, not Congress. The 1987 Constitution does not provide for a
method by which delegates to the Con-Con are chosen.
The third method is called the “People’s Initiative” (or P.I.). In this method,
amendments to the Constitution may be proposed by the people upon a
petition of at least 12% of the total number of registered voters. All
legislative districts must be represented by at least 12% of the registered
votes therein. No amendment is allowed more than once every five years
since a successful P.I. The 1987 Constitution
Bulacan directs the Congress to enact
Date Developed:
Bachelorprovisions
a law to implement of of the P.I., July 2020
which
Polytechni Date Revised:has not yet materialized.
Page 123 of
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or revision to the constitution shall be valid only 148
when
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ratified by a Readings College
majorityinof the votes cast in a national referendum.
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Only the House of Representatives can initiate the impeachment of the
president, members of the Supreme Court, and other constitutionally
protected public officials such as the Ombudsman. The Senate will then try
the impeachment case. This is another safeguard to promote moral and
ethical conduct in the government.
Attempts to Amend or Change the 1987 Constitution
The 1987 Constitution provided for three methods by which the
Constitution can be amended, all requiring ratification by a majority vote in
a national referendum. These methods were Constituent Assembly,
Constitutional Convention, and People’s Initiative. Using these modes, there
were efforts to amend or change the 1987 Constitution, starting with the
presidency of Fidel V. Ramos who succeeded Corazon Aquino. The first
attempt was in 1995, when then Secretary of the National Security Council
Jose Almonte drafted a constitution, but it was exposed to the media and it
never prospered. The second effort happened in 1997, when a group called
PIRMA hoped to gather signatures from voters to change the constitution
through a people’s initiative. Many were against this, including then Senator
Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who brought the issue to court and won---with
the Supreme Court judging that a people’s initiative cannot push through
without an enabling law.
The succeeding president, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, formed a study
commission to investigate the issues surrounding charter change focusing
on the economic and judiciary provisions for the constitution. This effort
was also blocked by different entities. After President Estrada was replaced
by another People Power and succeeded by his Vice President, Gloria
Macapagal- Arroyo, then House Speaker Jose de Venecia endorsed
constitutional change through a Constituent Assembly, which entails a two-
thirds vote of the House to propose amendments or revision to the
Constitution. This initiative was also not successful since the term of
President Arroyo was mired in controversy and scandal, including the
possibility of Arroyo extending her term as president, which the Constitution
does not allow
The administration of the succeeding President Benigno Aquino III
had no marked interest in charter change, except those emanating from
different members of Congress, including the Speaker of the House,
Feliciano Belmonte Jr., who attempted to introduce amendments to the
Constitution that concern economic provisions that aim toward liberation.
This effort did not see the light of day
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Federalism in the Philippines was supported by President Duterte in the
2016 presidential elections, saying that it will evenly distribute wealth in
the Philippines instead of concentrating it in Manila, the capital of the
country. As a form of government, a central governing authority and
constituent political units constitutionally share sovereignty. Applied to
the Philippines, the country will be broken into autonomous regions. Each
region will be further divided into local government units. The regions will
have the primary responsibility of industry development, public safety and
instruction, education, healthcare, transportation, and many more. Each
region will also take charge of their own finances, plans for development,
and laws exclusive to this area. The national government, on the other
hand, will only handle matters of national interest such as foreign policy
and defense, among others. In this system, it is possible for the central
government and the regions to share certain powers.
Our current system is that of a unitary form, where administrative powers
and resources are concentrated in the national government. Mayors and
governors would have to rely on allocations provided to them through a
proposed budget that is also approved by the national government, a
system prone to abuse.
There are many pros to a federal form of government. Each region may
custom fit solutions to problems brought about by their distinct
geographic, cultural, social, and economic contexts. Regions also have
more power over their finances, since they handle majority of their income
and only contributes to a small portion to the national government. They
can choose to directly fund their own development projects without asking
for the national government’s go signal. A federal system could also
promote specialization, since the national government could focus on
nationwide concerns while regional governments can take care of
administrative issues.
A federal form of government could also solve a lot of decade-old problems
of the country. It may be a solution to the conflict in Mindanao, since a
separate Bangsamoro region could be established for Muslim Mindanao. It
could address the of
Bachelor inequality in wealthJulydistribution
2020 and lessen the
dependence to Metro Manila,
Science in Office since regions can proceed with what they
c 148
have to do without needing to consider the situation in the capital.
Management
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There arePhilippine
also cons to
History federalism.
DocumentWhileDeveloped
it creates
by: competition among
regions, it could
Histalso
213 be challenge to achieving unity in the country.
No. Farrah Mae S. Santos Revision #There
00
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might be regions which are not ready to govern themselves, or have lesser
resources, which could mire them deeper in poverty and make
development uneven in the country. There could be issues regarding
overlaps in jurisdiction, since ambiguities may arise where national ends
In an upsurge of populism, President Rodrigo Duterte won the 2016
presidential elections in a campaign centering on law and order, proposing
to reduce crime by killing tens of thousands of criminals. He is also a known
advocate of federalism, a compound mode of government combining a
central or federal government with regional governments in a single political
system. This advocacy is in part an influence of his background, being a
local leader in Mindanao that has been mired in poverty and violence for
decades. On 7 December 2016, President Duterte signed an executive order
creating a consultative committee to review the 1987 Constitution.

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MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
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Policies on Agrarian Reform

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MODULE CONTENT

MODULE TITLE: Policies on Agrarian Reform

the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
1. Landownership in the Philippine under Spain
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2. Landownership in the Philippines under the Americans
3. Post-War Interventions toward Agrarian Reform
 Primary Source: Declaration of Policy under RA No. 3844 or Agricultural
Land Reform Code
4. Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos
 Primary Source: Presidential Decree No. 27, 21 October 1972
5. Post-1986 Agrarian Reform
6. CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://www.facebook.com/estoryahe.bai.CEBU/posts/how-big-is-hacienda-
luisita/1788486097857656/
https://kami.com.ph/110477-hacienda-luisita-issue.html

Policies on Agrarian Reform
history.
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Introduction:
Agrarian reform is essentially the rectification of the whole system of
agriculture, an important aspect of the Philippine economy because nearly
half of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, and most
citizens live in rural areas. Agrarian reform is centered on the relationship
between production and the distribution of land among farmers. It is also
focused on the political and economic class character of the relations of
production and distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how
these connect to the wider class structure. Through genuine and
comprehensive agrarian reform, the Philippine would be able to gain more
from its agricultural potential and uplift the Filipinos in the agricultural
sector, who have been, for the longest time, suffering in poverty and
discontent.
In our attempt to understand the development of agrarian reform in
the Philippines, we turn our attention to our country’s history, especially
our colonial past, where we could find the root of the agrarian woes the
country has experienced up to this very day.
Landownership in the Philippines under Spain
When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a
system of pueblo agriculture, where rural communities, often dispersed and
scattered in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate.
Families were not allowed to own their land---the King of Spain owned
the land, and Filipinos were assigned to these lands to cultivate them, and
they paid their colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of
agricultural products.
Later on, through the Law of the Indies, the Spanish crown awarded
tracts of land to (1) religious orders;(2) repartamientos for Spanish military
as reward for their service; and (3) Spanish encomenderos, those mandated,
those mandated to manage the encomienda or the lands given to them,
where Filipinos worked and paid their tributes to the encomendero. Filipinos
were not given the right to own land, and only worked in them so that they
might have a share of the crops and pay tribute. The encomienda system
was an unfair and abusive system as “compras y vandalas” became the
norm for the Filipino farmers working the land---they were made to sell their
products at a very low price or surrender their products to the
encomenderos, who resold this at a profit. Filipinos in the encomienda were
also required to render services to their encomenderos that were unrelated
to farming.

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https://www.slideshare.net/shielambb/spanish-8824883
From this encomienda system, the hacienda system developed in the
beginning of the nineteenth century as the Spanish government
implemented policies that would fast track the entry of the colony into the
capitalist world. The economy was tied to the world market as the
Philippines became an exporter of raw materials and importer of goods.
Agricultural exports were demanded and the hacienda system was
developed as a new form of ownership. In the 1860s, Spain enacted a law
ordering landholders to register their landholdings, and only those who
knew benefitted from this. Lands were claimed and registered in other
people’s names, and many peasant families who were “assigned” to the land
in the earlier days of colonization were driven out or forced to come under
the power of these people who claimed rights to the land because they held a
title.
This is primary reason why revolts in the Philippines were often
agrarian in nature. Before the colonization, Filipinos had communal
ownership of land. The system introduced by the Spaniards became a bitter
source of hatred and discontent for the Filipinos. Religious orders, the
biggest landowners in the Philippines, also became a main source of abuse
and exploitation for the Filipinos, increasing the rent paid by the Filipinos
on a whim.
Filipinos fought the Philippine Revolution in a confluence of
motivations, but the greatest desire for freedom would be the necessity of
owning land. Upon the end of the Philippine Revolution, the revolutionary
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government would declare all large landed estates, especially the confiscated
friar lands as government property. However, the first Philippine republic
was short-lived. The entrance of the Americans would signal a new era of
colonialism and imperialism in the Philippines.
Landownership in the Philippines under the Americans
The Americans were aware that the main cause of social unrest in the
Philippines was landless, and they attempted to put an end to the
deplorable conditions of the tenant farmers by passing several land policies
to increase the small landholders and distribute ownership to a bigger
number of Filipino tenants and farmers. The Philippine Bill of 1902 provide
regulations on the disposal of public lands. A private individual may own 16
hectares of land while corporate landholders may have 1,024 hectares.
Americans were also given rights to own agricultural lands in the country.
The Philippines Commission also enacted Act No. 496 or the Land
Registration Act, which introduced the Torrens system to address the
absence of earlier records of issued land titles and conduct accurate land
surveys. In 1903, the homestead program was introduced, allowing a tenant
to enter into an agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at least 16
hectares. This program, however, was limited to areas in Northern Luzon
and Mindanao, where colonial penetration had been difficult for Americans,
a problem they inherited from the Spaniards.
Landownership did not improve during the American period; in fact, it
even worsened, because there was no limit to the size of landholdings people
could possess and the accessibility of possession was limited to those who
could afford to buy, register, and acquire fixed property titles. Not all friar
lands acquired by the Americans were given to the landless peasant farmers.
Some lands were sold or leased to American and Filipino business interest.
The Sakdal (or Sakdalista) Uprising was a peasant rebellion in Cnetral

Luzon that lasted for two days, May 2-3, 1935.It was easily crushed by
government forces then, but this historical event tells of the social
inequality brought about by issues inland ownership and tenancy in the
country.
The Filipino word sakdal means “to accuse” which is the title of the
newspaper helmed by Benigno Ramos. He rallied support from Manila and
nearby provinces through the publication, which led to the establishment
of the Partido Sakdalista in 1933. They demanded reforms from the
government, such as the abolition of taxes and “equal or common” owner-
ship of the land, among others. They also opposed the dominant
Nacionalista Party’s acceptance of gradual independence from the United
States, and instead demandedBulacan immediate Date Developed:
severance of ties with America.
For a new party inwith
Science a small clout, they did well in the 1934
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elections, scoring three seats in the House of Representatives and several
Readings in College
local posts. This encouraged them to attempt an uprising in 1935. Upon
being crushed, Ramos
Hist 213
fled Tokyo
No. and the Partido
Farrah MaeSakdalista
S. Santos collapsed.
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https://outlet.historicimages.com/products/rsf02011
This early land reform program was also implemented without support
mechanisms---if a landless peasant farmer received land, he only received
land, nothing more. Many were forced to return to tenancy and wealthy
Filipino hacienderos purchased or forcefully took over lands from farmers
who could not afford to pay their debts. The system introduced by the
American enabled more lands to be placed under tenancy, which led to the
widespread peasant uprisings, such as the Colorum and Sakdal Uprising in
Luzon. Peasants and workers found refuge from millenarian movements that
gave them hope that changed could still happen through militancy.
During the years of the Commonwealth government, the situation further
worsened as peasant uprisings increased and landlord-tenant relationship
became more and more disparate. President Quezon laid down a social
justice program focused on the purchase of haciendas, which were to be
divided and sold to tenants. His administration also created the National
Rice and Corn Corporation (NARIC)to assign public defenders to assist
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peasants in court battles for their rights to the land, and the Court of
Industrial Relations to exercise jurisdiction over disagreements arising from
landowner-tenant relationship. The homestead program also continued
through the National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA). Efforts toward
agrarian reform by the Commonwealth failed because of many problems
such as budget allocation for the settlement program and widespread
peasant uprisings. World War II put a halt to all interventions to solve these
problems as the Japanese occupied the country.
Post- War Interventions toward Agrarian Reform
Rehabilitation and rebuilding after the war were focused on providing
solutions to the problems of the past. The administration of President Roxas
passed the Republic Act No. 34 to establish a 70-30 sharing arrangement
between tenant and landlord, respectively, which reduced the interest of
landowners’ loan to tenants at six percent or less. The government also
attempted to redistribute hacienda lands, falling prey to the woes of similar
attempts since no support was given to small farmers who were given lands.
Under the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the Land Settlement
Development Corporation (LASEDECO)was established to accelerate and
expand the resettlement program for peasants. This agency later on became
the National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administraton (NARRA)under
the administration of President Ramon Magsaysay.
Magsaysay saw the importance of pursuing genuine land reform
program and convinced the Congress, majority of which were landed elites,
to pass legislation to improve the land reform situation. Republic Acr No.
1199 or the Agricultural Tenancy Act was passed to govern the relationship
between landholders and tenant farmers, protecting the tenurial rights of
tenants and enforced tenancy practices. Through this law, the Court of
Agricultural Relations was created in 1955 to improve tenancy
security, fix land rentals of tenanted farms, and resolve land disputes filed
by the landowners and peasant organizations. The Agricultural Tenancy
Commission was also established to administer problems created by
tenancy. The Agricultural Credit and Cooperative Financing Administration
(ACCFA) was also created mainly to provide warehouse facilities and assist
farmers in marketing their products. The administration spearheaded the
establishment of the Agricultural and Industrial Bank to provide easier
terms in applying for homestead and other farmlands.

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Left image source:https://www.newmandala.org/book-review/liberalism-
and-the-postcolony-thinking-the-state-in-20th-century-philippines/the-
agricultural-tenancy-act-and-the-land-reform-act-of-1955-are-among-the-
laws-enacted-by-president-ramon-magsaysay-to-help-protect-the-local-
farmers-1/
Right image source:https://www.flickr.com/photos/govph/8073241080
NARRA accelerated the government’s resettlement program and
distribution of agricultural lands to landless tenants and farmers. It also
aimed to convince members of the Hunks, a movement of rebels in Central
Luzon, to resettle in areas where they could restart their lives as peaceful
citizens.
Despite a more vigorous effort toward agrarian reform, the situation
for the farmers remained dire since the government lacked funds and
provided inadequate support services for the programs. The landed elite did
not fully cooperate and they criticized the programs.
A major stride in land reform arrived during the term of President
Diosdado Macapagal through the Agricultural Land Reform Code (Republic
Act No. 3844)
Primary Source: Declaration of Policy under RA No. 3844 of
Agricultural Land Reform Code
Source: Section 2. Declaration of Policy---It is the policy of the State:
1. To establish owner-cultivator ship and the economic family-size farm as
the basis of Philippine agricultural and, as a consequence, divert landlord
capital in agriculture to industrial development;
2. To achieve a dignified existence for the small farmers free from pernicious
institutional restraints and practices;
3. To create a truly viable social and economic structure in agriculture
conducive to greater productivity and higher farm incomes;
4. To apply all labor laws equally and without discrimination to both
industrial and agricultural wage earners;
5. To provide a more vigorous and systematic land resettlement program
and public land distribution; and
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6. To make the small farmers more independent, self-reliant and responsible
citizens, and a source of genuine strength in our democratic society.
This Code abolished share tenancy in the Philippines and prescribed a
program to convert tenant-farmers to lessees and later on owner-cultivators.
It also aimed to free tenants from tenancy and emphasize owner-cultivator
ship and farmer independence, equity, productivity improvement, and
public land distribution. Despite being one of the most comprehensive
pieces of land reform legislation ever passed in the Philippines, Congress did
not make any effort to come up with a separate bill to fund its
implementation, despite the fact that it proved beneficial in the provinces
where it was pilot tested.
Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos
President Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, enabling him to
essentially wipe out the landlord-dominated Congress. Through his
“technocrats”, he was able to expand executive power to start a
“fundamental restructuring” of government, including its efforts in solving
the deep structural problems of the countryside. Presidential Decree No. 27
or the Code of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines became the core of
agrarian reform during Marcos regime.
Primary Source: Presidential Decree No. 27, 21 October 1972
This shall apply to tenant farmers of private agricultural lands
primarily devoted to rice and corn under a system of sharecrop or lease-
tenancy, whether classified as landed estate or not;
The tenant farmer, whether in land classified as landed estate or not,
shall be seemed owner of a portion constituting a family-size farm of five (5)
hectares if not irrigated and three (3) hectares if irrigated;
In all cases, the landowner may retain an area of not more than seven
(7)hectares if such landowner is cultivating such area or will now cultivate
it; For the purpose of determining the cost of the land to be transferred to
the tenant-farmer pursuant to this Decree, the value of the land shall be
equivalent to two and one-half (2 1/2)times the average of three normal crop
years immediately preceding the promulgation of this Decree;
The total cost of the land, including interest at the rate of six (6) per
centum per annum, shall be paid by the tenant in fifteen (15) years of fifteen
(15) equal annual amortizations;
In case of default, the amortization due shall be paid by the farmers’
cooperative in which the defaulting tenant-farmer is a member, with the
cooperative having a right of recourse against him;

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The government shall guaranty such amortizations with shares of
stock in government-owned and government-controlled corporations;
No title to the land owned by the tenant-farmers under this Decree
shall be actually issued to a tenant-farmer unless and until the tenant-
farmer has become a full-fledged member of a duly recognized farmer’s
cooperative;
Title to land acquired pursuant to this Decree or the Land Reform
Program of the Government shall not be transferable except by hereditary
succession or to the Government in accordance with the provisions of this
Decree, the Code of Agrarian Reforms and other existing laws and
regulations;
The Department of Agrarian Reform through its Secretary is hereby
empowered to promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation of
the Decree.
“Operation Land Transfer”on lands occupied by tenants of more than
seven hectares on rice and corn lands commenced, and through legal
compulsion and an improved delivery of support services to small farmers,
agrarian reform seemed to be finally achievable. Under the rice self-
sufficiency program “Masagana 99,” farmers were able to borrow from banks
and purchase three-hectare plots of lands and agricultural inputs. However,
the landlords class still found ways to circumvent the law. Because only rice
lands were the focus of agrarian reform, some landlords only needed to
change crops to be exempted from the program, such as coconut and sugar
lands. Lands worked by wage labor were also exempt from the program, so
the landed elite only had to evict their tenants and hired workers instead.
Landlessness increased, which made it all the more difficult for the program
to succeed because landless peasants were excluded from the program.
Many other methods were employed by the elite to find a way to maintain
their power and dominance, which were worsened by the corruption of
Marcos and his cronies who were also involved in the agricultural sector.
Post-1986 Agrarian Reform
The overthrow of Marcos and the 1987 Constitution resulted in a
renewed interest and attention to agrarian reform as President Corazon
Aquino envisioned agrarian reform to be the centerpiece of her
administration’s social legislation, which proved difficult because her
background betrayed her---she came from a family of a wealthy and landed
clan that owned the Hacienda Luisita.

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https://www.facebook.com/estoryahe.bai.CEBU/posts/how-big-is-
hacienda-luisita/1788486097857656/
On 22 July 1987, Aquino issued Presidential Proclamation 131 and
Executive Order 229, which outlined her land reform program. In 1988, the
Congress passed Republic Act No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law (CARL), which introduced the program with the same name
(Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or CARP). It enabled the
redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from landowners, who
were paid in exchange by the government through just compensation and
allowed them to retain not more than five hectares. Corporate landowners
were, however, allowed under law to voluntarily divest a proportion of their
capital stock, equity, or participation in favor of their workers of other
qualified beneficiaries instead of turning over their land to the government.
CARP was limited because it accomplished very little during the
administration of Aquino. It only accomplished 22.5% of land distribution in
six years owing to the fact that Congress, dominated by the landed elite, was
unwilling to fund the high compensation costs of the program. It was also
mired in controversy, since Aquino seemingly bowed down to the pressure of
her relatives by allowing the stock redistribution option. Hacienda Luisita
reorganized itself into a corporation and distributed stocks to farmers.
Under the term of President Ramos, CARP implementation was
speeded in order to meet the ten-year time frame, despite limitations and
constraints in funding, logistics, and participation of involved sectors. By
1996, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)distributed only 58.25% of
the total area target to be covered by the program. To address the lacking
funding and the dwindling time for the implementation of CARP, Ramos
signed Republic Act No. 8532 in 1998 to amend CARL and extend the
program to another ten years.
CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines
The new deadline of CARP expired in 2008, leaving 1.2 million farmer
beneficiaries and 1.6 million hectares of agricultural land to be distributed
to farmers. In 2009, President Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9700 or the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms
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(CARPER), the amendatory law that extended the deadline to five more
years. Section 30 of the law also mandates that any case and/or proceeding
involving the implementation of the provisions of CARP, as amended, which
may remain pending on 30 June 2014 shall be allowed to proceed to its
finality and executed even beyond such date.
From 2009 to 2014, CARPER has distributed a total of 1 million
hectares of land to 900,000 farmer beneficiaries. After 27 years of land
reform and two Aquino administrations, 500,000 hectares of lands remain
undistributed. The DAR and the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) are the government agencies mandated to fulfill CARP
and CARPER, but even the combined effort and resources of the two
agencies have proved incapable of fully achieving the goal of agrarian reform
in the Philippines. The same problems have plagued its implementation: the
powerful landed elite and the ineffectual bureaucracy of the Philippine
government. Until these two challenges are surmounted, genuine agrarian
reform in the Philippines remains but a dream to Filipino farmers who have
been fighting for their right to landownership for centuries.

MODULE MATERIALS
List of Modules

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No. MODULE
MODULE TITLE
CODE
1. Hist 213-1
and Methodology
2 Hist 213-2

4 Hist 213-4

Evolution of Philippine Tax

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MODULE CONTENT

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MODULE TITLE: Evolution of Philippine Tax

the chosen topic.
TOPIC:
1. Taxation in Spanish Philippines
 Primary Source: Mariano Herbosa Writes to Rizal About Taxes
2. Taxation under the Americans
3. Taxation during the Commonwealth Period
4. Fiscal Policy from 1946 to Present
1. Quizzes
REFERENCE/S:
https://lawyer24h.net/added-tax-foreign-contactor-vat/

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Evolution of Philippine Tax
history.
Introduction:
In today’s world, taxation is a reality that all citizens must contend
with for the primary reason that governments raise revenue from the people
they govern to be able to function fully. In exchange for the taxes that people
pay, the government promises to improve the citizens’ lives through good
governance. Taxation, as a government mechanism to raise funds, developed
and evolved through time, and in the context of the Philippines, we must
understand that it came with our colonial experience.
https://whatistrainlaw.wordpress.com/2018/03/11/history-of-taxation-in-the-
philippines/
Taxation in Spanish Philippines

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The Philippines may have abundant natural resources even before the
encroachment of the Spaniards, but our ancestors were mainly involved in a
subsistence economy, and while the payment to tribute or taxes
(buhis/buwis/handug)or the obligation to provide labor services to the
datus in some early Filipino communities in the Philippines may resemble
taxation, it is essentially different from the contemporary meaning of the
concept.
The arrival of the Spaniards altered this subsistence system because
they imposed the payment of tributos (tributes)from the Filipinos, similar to
what had been practiced in all colonies in America. The purpose is to
generate resources to finance the maintenance of the islands, such as
salaries of government officials and expenses of the clergy. The difficulty
faced by the Spaniards in revenue collection through the tribute was
dispersed nature of the settlements, which they solved by introducing the
system of reduccion by creating pueblos, where Filipinos were gathered and
awarded plots of land to till. Later on, the settlements will be handled by
encomenderos who received rewards from the Spanish crown for their
services. Exempted from payment of tributos were the principales: alcaldes,
gobernadores, cabezas de barangay, soldiers, members of the civil guard,
government officials, and vagrants.
The Filipinos who were once satisfied with agricultural production for
subsistence had to increase production to meet the demands of payments
and a more intensive agricultural system had to be introduced. Later on,
half of the tribute was paid in cash and the rest with produce. This financed
the conquest of the Philippines.
Toward the end of the sixteenth century, the Manila-Acapulco trade
was established through the galleons, a way by which the Spaniards could
make sure that European presence would be sustained. Once a year, the
galleon would be loaded up with merchandise from Asia and sent to New
Spain (Mexico), and back. This improved the economy of the Philippines and
reinforced the control of the Spaniards all over the country. Tax collection
was still very poor and subsidy from the Spain would be needed through the
situado real delivered from the Mexican treasury to the Philippines through
the galleons. This subsidy stopped as Mexico became independent in 1820.
In 1884, the payment of tribute was put to a stop and was replaced by
a poll tax collected through a certificate of identification called the cedula
personal. This is required from every resident and must be carried while
traveling. Unlike the tribute, the payment of cedulas is by person. Not by
family. Payment of the cedula is progressive and according to income
categories. This system, however, was a heavy burden for the peasants and
was easy for the wealthy. But because of this, revenue collection greatly
increased and became the main source of government income. The Chinese
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in the Philippines were also made to pay their discriminatory cedula which
was bigger than what the Filipinos paid.
http://pinoykollektor.blogspot.com/2011/02/16-cedula-during-1896-
revolution.html
Two direct taxes were added in 1878 and imposed on urban incomes.
Urbana is a tax on the annual rental value of an urban real estate and
industria is a tax on salaries, dividends, and profits. These taxes were
universal and affected all kinds of economic activity except agriculture,
which was exempt to encourage growth.
Indirect taxes such as customs duties were imposed on exports and
imports to further raise revenue, especially during the nineteenth century
when economic growth increased exponentially. There were no excise taxes
collected by the Spaniards throughout the years of colonialism.
The colonial government also gained income from monopolies, such as
the sale of stamped paper, manufacture and sale of liquor, cockpits, and
opium, but the biggest of the state monopolies was tobacco, which began in
1781 and halted in1882. Only certain areas were assigned to cultivate
tobacco, which the government purchased at a price dictated to the growers.
This monopoly made it possible for the colony to create a surplus of income
that made it self-sufficient without the need for the situado real and even
contributed to the Treasury of Spain.
Forced labor was a character of Spanish colonial taxation in the
Philippines and was required from the Filipinos. It proved useful in
defending the territory of the colony and augmenting the labor required by
woodcutting and shipbuilding especially during the time of the galleon trade.
Through the polo system, male Filipinos were obliged to serve, a burden that
resulted in an increase in death rate and flight to the mountains, which led
to a decrease in population in the seventeenth century. This changed later
on, as polos and servicios became lighter, and was organized at the
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municipal level. Labor provided was used in public works, such as the
building of roads and bridges. Some were made to serve the municipal office
or as night guards.
Males were required to provide labor for 40 days a year (reduced to 15
days a year in 1884). They may opt out by paying the fallas of three pesos
per annum, which was usually lost to corruption because it was collected at
the municipal level and were known as caidas or droppings. The polos would
be called prestacion personal (personal services) by the second half of the
nineteenth century.
Taxation in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period was
characterized by the heavy burden placed on the Filipinos, and the
corruption of the principales, or the former datus and local elites who were
co-opted by the Spaniards to subjugated and control the natives on their
behalf. The principales who were given positions such as cabezas de
barangay or alcaldes in the local government were able to enrich themselves
by pocketing tributos and/or fallas, while the peasants were left to be
abused. Taxation appeared progressive but the disparity between the less
taxed principales and the heavily taxed peasants made the rich richer and
poor poorer.
Primary Source: Mariano Herbosa Writes Rizal About Taxes
The tax!With regard to your question on this, the answer is very long,
as it is the cause of the prevailing misery here. What I can write you will be
only one-half of the story and even Dumas, senior, cannot exhaust the
subject. Nevertheless, I’ll try to write what I can, though I may not be able to
give a complete story, you may at least know half of it.
Here, there are many kinds of taxes. What they call irrigated rice land,
even if it has no water, must pay a tax of 50 cavanes of palay (unhusked
rice) and land with six cavanes of seed pay 5 pesos in cash. The land they
call dry land that is planted to sugar can, maize,and others pay different
rates. Even if the agreed amount is 30 pesos for land with six cavanes of
seed, if they see that the harvest is good, they increase the tax, but they
don’t decrease it, if the harvest is poor. There is land whose tax is 25 pesos
or 20 pesos, according to custom.
The most troublesome are the residential lots in the town. There is no
fixed rule that is followed, only their whim. Hence, even if it is only one span
in size, if a stone wall is added, 50 pesos must be paid, the lowest being 20
pesos. But a nipa or cogon house pays only one peso for an area of ten
fathoms square. Another feature of this system is that on the day you accept
the conditions, the contract will be written cannot be changed for four years,
but the tax is increased every year. For these reasons, for two years now the
payment of tax is confused and little by little the fear of the residents here of
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the word “vacant’ is being dispelled, which our ancestors had feared so
much. The result is bargaining, like they do in buying fish. It is advisable to
offer a low figure and payment can be postpone, unlike before when people
were very much afraid to pay after May.
I’m looking for a receipt to send you, but I cannot find any, because
we don’t get a receipt every time we pay. Anyway, it is value-less as it does
not state the amount paid; it only says that the tax for that year was paid,
without stating whether it is five centavos, twenty-five centavos, one
hundred, or one thousand pesos. The residents who ask or get the said
receipt accept it with closed eyes. The receipt has no signature in the place
where the amount paid ought to be, although it bears their name. Until now
I cannot comprehend why some are signed and others are not. This is more
or less what is happening here in the payment of the land tax and it has
been so for many years since I can remember.
Beside this, the taxes on the plants in the fields that are far from the
town, like the land in Pansol, are various. The tax on the palay is separate
from the tax on maize, mongo, or garlic. There is no limit to this tax, for they
fix it themselves. Since July no one buys sugar and since June locusts are
all over the town and they are destroying palay and sugar cane, which is
what we regret here. The governor gave 50 pesos to pay the catchers of
locusts, but when they took them to the town hall, they were paid only 25
cents a cavan and a half; and it seems that the locusts are not decreasing.
According to the guess of the residents here only 300 cavanes of locusts
have been caught in this town. Many still remain. Though the governor has
not sent any more money, the people have not stopped catching them.
Taxation under the Americans
The Americans who acquired the Philippines aimed to make the
economy self-sufficient by running the government with the smallest
possible sum of revenue and create surplus in the budget. From 1898 to
1903, the Americans followed the Spanish system introduced by the
Spaniards were outdated and regressive. The military government
suspended the contracts for the sale of opium, lottery, and mint charges for
coinage of money. Later on, the urbana would be replaced by tax on real
estate, which became known as the land tax. The land tax was levied on
both urban and rural real estates.
The problem with land tax was that land titling in the rural area was
very disorderly: the appraising of land value was influenced by political and
familial factors and the introduction of a taxation system on agricultural
land faced objections from the landed elite. Tax evasion was prevalent,
especially among the elites.

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The Internal Revenue Law of 1904 was passed as a reaction to the
problems of collecting land tax. It prescribed ten major sources of revenue:
(1)licensed taxes on firms dealing in alcoholic beverages and tobacco,
(2)excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, (3)taxes on
banks and bankers, (4)document stamp taxes, (5)the cedula, (6)taxes on
insurance and insurance companies, (7)taxes on forest products, (8)mining
concessions, (9)taxes on business and manufacturing, and (10)occupational
licenses.
The cedula went through changes in the new law as the rate was fixed
per adult male, which resulted in a great decline in revenues. In 1907, some
provinces were authorized to double the fee for the cedula to support the
construction and maintenance of roads. The industria tax was levied on the
business community and became a highly complex system that assigned a
certain tax to an industrial or commercial activity according to their
profitability. The new act also imposed a percentage tax on sales payable
quarterly.
In 1913, the Underwood-Simmons Tariff Act was passed, resulting in
a reduction in the revenue of the government as export taxes levied on
sugar, tobacco, hemp, and copra were lifted. To make up for the loss, then
Governor General Francis Burton Harrison urged that tax receipts be
increased to make up for the loss. Minor changes were made to the 1904
Internal Revenue Act such as the imposition of taxes on mines, petroleum
products, and dealers of petroleum products and tobacco.
New sources of taxes were introduced later on. In 1914, an income tax
was introduced, in 1919, an inheritance tax was created; and in 1932, a
national lottery was established to create more revenue for the government.
However, these new creations were not enough to increase government.
Taxation during the Commonwealth Period
New measures and legislation were introduced to make the taxation
system appear more equitable during the Commonwealth. Income tax rates
were increased in 1936, adding a surtax rate on individual net incomes in
excess of 10,000 pesos. Income tax rates of corporations were also
increased. In 1937, the cedula tax was abolished, which appeared to be a
progressive move; but in 1940, a residence tax was imposed on every citizen
aged 18 years old and on every corporation.
In 1939, the Commonwealth government drafted the National Internal
Revenue Code, introducing major changes in the new tax system, as follows:
1. The normal tax of three percent and the surtax on income was replaced
by a single tax at a progressive rate.
2. Personal exemptions were reduced.

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3. Corporation income tax was slightly increased by introducing taxes on
inherited estates or gifts donated in the name of dead persons.
4. The cumulative sales tax was replaced by a single turnover tax of 10% on
luxuries.
5. Taxes on liquors, cigarettes, forestry products, and mining were
increased.
6. Dividends were made taxable.
The introduced tax structure was an improvement of the earlier
system introduced by the Americans, but still remained inequitable. The
lower class still felt the bulk of the burden of taxation, while the upper class,
the landed elite or the people in political positions, were able to maneuver
the situation that would benefit them more. The agriculture sector was still
taxed low to promote growth, but there was no incentive for industrial
investment to take root and develop.
Finally, a common character of taxation during the American
occupation in the Philippines was not used to diversify the economy or
direct economic development as some sectors still carried the
disproportionate share of the tax burden.
As World War II reached the Philippine shores, economic activity was
put to a stop and the Philippines bowed to a new set of administrators, the
Japanese. The Japanese military administration in the Philippine during
World War II immediately continued to system of tax collection introduced
during the Commonwealth, but exempted the articles belonging to the
Japan-ese armed forces. Foreign trade fell and the main sources of taxation
came from amusements, manufactures, professions, and business licenses.
As the war raged, tax collection was a difficult task and additional incomes
of the government were derived from the sales of the National Sweepstakes
and sale of government bonds.
The expenditure of the Japanese military government grew greatly,
and they issued military notes in order to cover the costs of the war.
Fiscal Policy from 1946 to Present
The impact of the war on the Philippine economy was effectively
disparate, as Manila, the capital, was razed to the ground while the rest of
the Philippines was relatively untouched. But the highly agriculture-based
economy was disrupted. The United States may have declared the
Philippines independent, but as the country needed rehabilitation funds
from the United States, the dependency of the Philippines to the Americans
was an opportunity to be taken advantage of by the former colonial
administrators. The economic situation was so problematic that by 1949,
there was a severe lack of funds in many aspects of governance, such as the
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military and education sectors. No efforts were made to improve tax
collection and the United States advised the adoption of direct taxation. The
administration of President Manuel Roxas declined the proposal because it
did not want to alienate its allies in Congress.
The impetus for economic growth came during the time of President
Elpidio Quirino through the implementation of import and exchange
controls that led to import substitution development. This policy allowed for
the expansion of a viable manufacturing sector that reduced economic
dependence on imports. New tax measures were also passed, which
included higher corporate tax rates that increased government revenues---
tax revenue in 1953 increased twofold compared to 1948, the year when
Quirino first assumed presidency.
While the succeeding presidencies of Magsaysay, Garcia, and
Macapagal promised to study the tax structure and policy of the country
(through the creation of a Tax Commission in 1959 by means of Republic
Act No. 2211)to make way for a more robust and efficient tax collection
scheme, post-war fiscal policy remained regressive, characterized by the
overburdening of the lowest classes while the landed elite who held business
interests were in Congress to ensure that taxes would not be levied to them
who belonged to the higher classes of society. The period of the post-war
republic also saw a rise in corruption. From 1959 to 1968; Congress did not
pass any tax legislation despite important changes in the economy and the
vested interests of Filipino businessmen in Congress would manifest in
many instances such as the rejection of taxes on imports. Indirect taxation
still contributed to three quarters of tax revenues and the Omnibus Tax Law
of 1969 did not increase the ration of income tax to general tax revenue.
Collection of taxes remained poor; tax structure was still problematic; and
much of public funds were lost to corruption, which left the government
incapable of funding projects geared toward development.
Under the Marcos authoritarian regime, the tax system remained
regressive. During the latter part of the Marcos’ years (1981-1985), the tax
system was still heavily dependent on indirect taxes, which made up 70% of
total tax collection. The tax system also remained unresponsive. Taxes grew
at an average annual rate of 15% and generated a low tax yield. Tax effort,
defined as the ratio between the share of the actual tax collection in gross
domestic product and predictable taxable capacity, was at a low 10.7%
As Corazon Aquino took the helm of the government after the EDSA
Revolution, she reformed the tax system through the 1986 Tax Reform
Program. The aim was to improve the responsiveness of the tax system,
promote equity by ensuring that similarly situated individuals and firms
bear the same tax burden, promote growth by withdrawing or modifying

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taxes that reduce incentives to work or produce, and improve tax
administration by simplifying the tax system and promoting tax compliance.
A major reform in the tax system introduced under the term of Aquino
was the introduction of the value-added tax (VAT), with the following
features:
1. Uniform rate of 10% on sale of domestic and imported goods and
services and zero percent on exports and foreign-currency denominated
sales;
2. Ten (10) percent in lieu of varied rates applicable to fixed taxes (60
nominal rates), advance sales tax, tax on original sale, subsequent sales tax,
compensating tax, miller’s tax. Contractor’s tax, broker’s tax, film lessors
and distributor’s tax, excise tax on solvents and matches, and excise tax on
processed videotapes;
3. Two percent tax on entities with annual sales or receipts of less
than 5,200,000;
4. Adoption of tax credit method of calculating tax by subtracting tax
on inputs from tax on gross sales;
5. Exemption of the sale of basic commodities such as agriculture and
marine food products in their original state, price-regulated petroleum
products and fertilizers; and
6. Additional 20% tax on non-essential articles such jewelry,
perfumes, toilet waters, yacht, and other vessels for pleasure and sports.
The VAT law was signed in 1986 and put to effect in 1988. While it
was a reliable source of revenue for the government, new tax laws would
reduce its reliability as legislated exemptions grew.
Along with tax reform came the administrative reforms, such as the
restructuring of the Department of Finance and its attached agency, the
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)through the Executive Order 127. Tax
collection and tax audits were intensified; computerization was introduced;
and corruption was relatively reduced, which improved the trust in the BIR
in general. As a result of the tax reform of the Aquino administration, both
tax and revenue effort rose, increasing from 10.7% in 1985 to 15.4% in
1992.
Greater political stability during the administration of Fidel Ramos in
1992 allowed for continued economic growth. The Ramos administration
ventured into its own tax reform program in 1997 through the
Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, which was implemented to (1)make the
tax system broad-based, simple, and with reasonable tax rates; (2) minimize
tax avoidance allowed by existing flaws and loopholes in the system; (3)

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encourage payments by increasing tax exemptions levels, lowering the
highest tax rates, and simplifying procedure; and (4) rationalize the grant of
tax incentives, which was estimated to be worth 531.7 billion pesos in 1994.
The VAT base was also broadened in 1997 to include services,
through Republic Act 7716. The features of the improved VAT law were as
follows:
1. Restored the VAT exemptions for all cooperatives (agricultural,
electric, credit or multipurpose, and others) provided that the share capital
of each member does not exceed 515,000 pesos.
2. Expanded the coverage of the term “simple processes” by including
broiling and roasting, effectively narrowing the tax base for food products.
3. Expanded the coverage of the term “original state” by including
molasses.
4. Exempted from the VAT are the following:
 Importation of meat
 Sale or importation of coal and natural gas in whatever form or state
 Educational services rendered by private educational institutions duly
accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
 House and lot and other residential dwellings valued at 51 million and
below, subject to adjustment using the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
 Lease of residential units with monthly rental per unit of not more than
58,000, subject to adjustment using CPI
 Sale, importation, printing, or publication of books and any newspaper
The succeeding term of President Joseph Estrada in 1998 was too
short to constitute any change in the tax system. Then Vice President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo was swept to power through another EDSA Revolution. As
president, she undertook increased government spending without adjusting
tax collections. This resulted in large deficits from 2002 to 2004. The
government had to look for additional sources of revenue, and in 2005, the
Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) was signed into law as Republic Act
9337. This expanded the VAT base, subjecting to VAT energy products such
as coal and petroleum products and electricity generation, transmission,
and distribution. Select professional services were also taxed. In February
2006, the VAT tax rate was also increased from 10% to 12%.
As President Benigno Aquino III succeeded President Arroyo in 2010,
he promised that no new taxes would be imposed and additional revenue
would have to come from adjusting existing taxes. The administration
ventured into the adjustment of excise tax on liquor and cigarettes or the

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Sin Tax Reform, motivations for which was primarily fiscal, public health,
and social order-related considerations. Republic Act 10351 was passed, the
government revenues from alcohol and tobacco excise taxes increased.
Collections from tobacco and alcohol in 2015 made up 1.1% of the Gross
Domestic Product and the improvement in tax collection resulted in the
Philippines receiving a credit rating upgrade into investment grade status.
The Sin Tax Reform was an exemplar on how tax reform could impact social
services as it allowed for the increase of the Department of Health budget
(triple in 2015) and free health insurance premiums for the poor people
enrolled in PhilHealth increased (from 55.2 million in 2012 to 515.4 million
in 2015).
The administration of the new President Rodrigo Duterte promised tax
reform, particularly in income taxes as it vowed to lower income tax rates
shouldered by working Filipinos. The present income tax scheme of the
country is the second highest in Southeast Asia and the current laws on
income taxes were outdated as they were drafted two decades ago. The
proposed tax reform also seeks to limit VAT exemptions and increase excise
taxes on petroleum products and automobiles. It is hoped that reforms in
the country’s tax policy will result in the much-desired economic
development that will be felt even by the lowest classes in society.

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https://www.eyesonmanila.com/2017/08/yes-to-more-discounts-with-free-
vat.html

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Hist 213 MODULE SY 2020 2021 1

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Hist 213 MODULE SY 2020 2021 1

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Program : Bachelor of Science in Office Management

Course Code : Hist 213

Course Title : Readings in Philippine History

Course Credit : 3 units Contact Hours : 54

BULACAN POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE

Bulacan Date Developed:

 Contributed to and give 1. Demonstrated thorough knowledge on the

GRADE PERCENTAGE DESCRIPTIVE RATING

1. Student is expected to participate to the best of his/her abilities in

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Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take

6 Case Study 3: Did Rizal Retract? Hist 213-6

8 1897: Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato Hist 213-8

9 1899: Malolos Constitution Hist 213-9

10 1935: The Commonwealth Constitution Hist 213-10

11 1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism Hist 213-11

12 1987: Constitution After the Martial Law Hist 213-12

13 Policies on Agrarian Reform Hist 213-13

14 Evolution of Philippine Tax Hist 213-14

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COURSE TITLE: Readings in Philippine History

MODULE TITLE: Introduction to History: Definition, Issues,

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

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This chapter introduces history as a discipline and as a narrative. It

Definition and Subject Matter

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Questions and Issues in History

Indeed, history as a discipline has already turned into a complex and

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The Annales School of History is a school of history born in France that

For example, if a historian chooses to use an oral account as his data

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Philippine historiography underwent several changes since the precolonial

Case Study 1: Where Did the First Catholic Mass Take

6 Case Study 3: Did Rizal Retract? Hist 213-6

8 1897: Constitution of Biak-Na-Bato Hist 213-8

9 1899: Malolos Constitution Hist 213-9

10 1935: The Commonwealth Constitution Hist 213-10

11 1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism Hist 213-11

12 1987: Constitution After the Martial Law Hist 213-12

13 Policies on Agrarian Reform Hist 213-13

14 Evolution of Philippine Tax Hist 213-14

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COURSE TITLE: Readings in Philippine History

SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

 Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in

 Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources;

1. A Brief Summary of the First Voyage Around the World by Magellan by

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Examining the document reveals several insights not just in the

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The Ladrones Islands is presently known as the Marianas Islands.

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