MODULE 2

ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY SOURCES

Learning Outcomes

1. Analyze the context, content and perspective of different kinds of

primary sources;
2. Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in
understanding Philippine history; and
3. Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary
sources.
CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

After doing external and internal criticisms of the historical sources and
when the authenticity and credibility is already established, we can now
analyze these sources to understand them more and for us to make historical
claims and positions.

Context Analysis

This analysis considers the following: the historical context of the source
(time and place it was written and the situation at the time; the author’s
background, intent (to the extent discernable), and authority on the subject;
and the source’s relevance and meaning today.

Content Analysis

This analysis on the other hand, applies appropriate techniques

depending on the type of source (written, oral, visual). In the process students
will be asked, for example, to identify the author’s main argument or thesis,
compare points of view, identify biases, and evaluate the author’s claim based
on the evidences presented or other available evidence at the time.

In doing both analyses, the student should also be able to give his
over-all assessment of the primary source. This may include discussion of
the knowledge gained by the reader from the primary source; and a
critical assessment on the historical value/ significance of the source in
understanding the events of Philippine History.
READING NO. 1 KARTILLA NG KATIPUNAN

KARTILLA NG KATIPUNAN
Emilio Jacinto

Mga Aral ng Katipunan ng mga A.N.B.

1. Ang kabuhayang hindi ginugugol sa isang malaki at banal na

kadahilanan ay kahoy na walang lilim, kundi damong makamandag

2. Ang gawang magaling na nagbubuhat sa pagpipita sa sarili, at hindi

sa talagang nasang gumawa ng kagalingan, ay di kabaitan.

3. Ang tunay na kabanalan ay ang pagkakawang gawa, ang pagibig sa

kapua at ang isukat ang bawat kilos, gawa’t pangungusap sa talagang
Katuiran.

4. Maitim man at maputi ang kulay ng balat, lahat ng tao’y

magkakapantay; mangyayaring ang isa’y higtan sa dunong, sa yaman,
sa ganda…; ngunit di mahihigtan sa pagkatao.

5. Ang may mataas na kalooban inuuna ang puri sa pagpipita sa sarili;

ang may hamak na kalooban inuuna ang pagpipita sa sarili sa puri.

6. Sa taong may hiya, salita’y panunumpa.

7. Huag mong sasayangin ang panahun; ang yamang nawala’y

magyayaring magbalik; nguni’t panahong nagdaan na’y di na muli pang
magdadaan. Value of time

8. Ipagtanggol mo ang inaapi, at kabakahin ang umaapi.

9. Ang taong matalino’y ang may pagiingat sa bawat sasabihin, at

matutong ipaglihim ang dapat ipaglihim.

10. Sa daang matinik ng kabuhayan, lalaki ay siyang patnugot ng

asawa’t mga anak; kung ang umaakay ay tungo sa sama, ang
patutunguhan ng iaakay ay kasamaan din.

11. Ang babai ay huag mong tignang isang bagay na libangan lamang,
kundi isang katuang at karamay sa mga kahirapan nitong kabuhayan;
gamitan mo ng buong pagpipitagan ang kaniyang kahinaan, at
alalahanin ang inang pinagbuhata’t nagiwi sa iyong kasangulan.

12. Ang di mo ibig na gawin sa asawa mo, anak at kapatid, ay huag

mong gagawin sa asawa, anak, at kapatid ng iba.

13. Ang kamahalan ng tao’y wala sa pagkahari, wala sa tangus ng

ilong at puti ng mukha, wala sa pagkaparing kahalili ng Dios wala sa
mataas na kalagayan sa balat ng lupa; wagas at tunay na mahal na
tao, kahit laking gubat at walang nababatid kundi ang sariling wika,
yaong may magandang asal, may isang pangungusap, may dangal at
puri; yaong di napaaapi’t di nakikiapi; yaong marunong magdamdam at
marunong lumingap sa bayang tinubuan.

14. Paglaganap ng mga aral na ito at maningning na sumikat ang araw

ng mahal na Kalayaan dito sa kaabaabang Sangkalupuan, at sabugan
ng matamis niyang liwanag ang nangagkaisang magkalahi’t
magkakapatid ng ligaya ng walang katapusan, ang mga ginugol na
buhay, pagud, at mga tiniis na kahirapa’y labis nang natumbasan.
Kung lahat ng ito’y mataruk na ng nagiibig pumasuk at inaakala niyang
matutupad ang mga tutungkulin, maitatala ang kaniyang ninanasa sa
kasunod nito.

The Katipunan Code of Conduct

[translation by Gregorio Nieva, 1918]

1. The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and reasonable purpose is

a tree without a shade, if not a poisonous weed.

2. To do good for personal gain and not for its own sake is not virtue.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. The honorable man prefers honor to personal gain; the scoundrel,

gain to honor.

6. To the honorable man, his word is sacred.

7. Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.

8. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in
the field.
 9. The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 (the Katipunan) 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.

Background (Katipunan and Kartilya)

The Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galang

na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK)
or simply Katipunan was a Philippine
Revolutionary Society founded by Andres
Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa,
Darilyo Valino, Rulfo Guia, Dano Belica,
Tiburcio Liamson and Gabrino Manzanero in
KKK Flag 1892 at Manila. Its primary aim is to gain the
independence of the Philippines from Spain
through revolution.

The Kartilya ng Katipunan is the guide of KKK members in its rules and
principles. It was initially written by its Supremo, Andres Bonifacio but was
later revised by Emilio Jacinto as the Decalogue of Katipunan.

READING NO. 2 THE ACT OF DECLARATION OF PHILIPPINE

INDEPENDENCE

Declaration of PHILIPPINE INDEPENDENCE

Translation by Sulpicio Guevara
In the town of Cavite-Viejo, Province of Cavite, this 12th day of June 1898:

BEFORE ME, Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, War Counselor and

Special Delegate designated to proclaim and solemnize this
Declaration of Independence by the Dictatorial Government of the
Philippines, pursuant to, and by virtue of, a Decree issued by the
Engregious Dictator Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy,

The undersigned assemblage of military chiefs and others of the army

who could not attend, as well as the representatives of the various
towns,

Taking into account the fact that the people of this country are already
tired of bearing the ominous joke of Spanish domination,
Because of arbitrary arrests and abuses of the Civil Guards who cause
deaths in connivance with and even under the express orders of their
superior officers who at times would order the shooting of those placed
under arrest under the pretext that they attempted to escape in
violation of known Rules and Regulations, which abuses were left
unpunished, and because of unjust deportations of illustrious Filipinos,
especially those decreed by General Blanco at the instigation of the
Archbishop and friars interested in keeping them in ignorance for
egoistic and selfish ends, which deportations were carried out through
processes more execrable than those of the Inquisition which every
civilized nation repudiates as a trial without hearing.

Had resolved to start a revolution in August 1896 in order to regain the

independence and sovereignty of which the people had been deprived
by Spain through Governor Miguel Lopez de Legazpi who, continuing
the course followed by his predecessor Ferdinand Magellan who
landed on the shores of Cebu and occupied said Island by means of a
Pact of Friendship with Chief Tupas, although he was killed in the
battle that took place in said shores to which battle he was provoked by
Chief Kalipulako ** of Mactan who suspected his evil designs, landed
on the Island of Bohol by entering also into a Blood Compact with its
Chief Sikatuna, with the purpose of later taking by force the Island of
Cebu, and because his successor Tupas did not allow him to occupy it,
he went to Manila, the capital, winning likewise the friendship of its
Chiefs Soliman and Lakandula, later taking possession of the city and
the whole Archipelago in the name of Spain by virtue of an order of
King Philip II, and with these historical precedents and because in
international law the prescription established by law to legalize the
vicious acquisition of private property is not recognized, the legitimacy
of such revolution can not be put in doubt which was calmed but not
complete stifled by the pacification proposed by Don Pedro A. Paterno
with Don Emilio Aguinaldo as President of the Republic established in
Biak-na-Bato and accepted by Governor-General Don Fernando Primo
De Rivera under terms, both written and oral, among them being a
general amnesty for all deported and convicted persons; that by reason
of the non-fulfillment of some of the terms, after the destruction of the
plaza of Cavite, Don Emilio Aguinaldo returned in order to initiate a
new revolution and no sooner had he given the order to rise on the
31st of last month when several towns anticipating the revolution, rose
in revolt on the 28th , such that a Spanish contingent of 178 men,
between Imus Cavite-Viejo, under the command of major of the Marine
Infantry capitulated , the revolutionary movement spreading like wild
fire to other towns of Cavite and the other provinces of Bataan,
Pampanga, Batangas, Bulacan, Laguna, and Morong, some of them
with seaports and such was the success of the victory of our arms, truly
marvelous and without equal in the history of colonial revolutions that in
the first mentioned province only the Detachments in Naic and Indang
remained to surrender; in the second all Detachments had been wiped
out; in the third the resistance of the Spanish forces was localized in
the town of San Fernando where the greater part of them are
concentrated, the remainder in Macabebe, Sexmoan, and Guagua; in
the fourth, in the town of Lipa; in the fifth, in the capital and in Calumpit;
and in last two remaining provinces, only in there respective capitals,
and the city of Manila will soon be besieged by our forces as well as
the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union,
Zambales, and some others in the Visayas where the revolution at the
time of the pacification and others even before, so that the
independence of our country and the revindication of our sovereignty is
assured.

And having as witness to the rectitude of our intentions the Supreme

Judge of the Universe, and under the protection of our Powerful and
Humanitarian Nation, The United States of America, we do hereby
proclaim and declare solemnly in the name by authority of the people
of these Philippine Islands,

That they are and have the right to be free and independent; that they
have ceased to have allegiance to the Crown of Spain; that all political
ties between them are should be completely severed and annulled; and
that, like other free and independent States, they enjoy the full power to
make War and Peace, conclude commercial treaties, enter into
alliances, regulate commerce, and do all other acts and things which
and Independent State Has right to do,

And imbued with firm confidence in Divine Providence, we hereby

mutually bind ourselves to support this Declaration with our lives, our
fortunes, and with our sacred possession, our Honor.

We recognize, approve, and ratify, with all the orders emanating from
the same, the Dictatorship established by Don Emilio Aguinaldo whom
we reverse as the Supreme Head of this Nation, which today begins to
have a life of its own, in the conviction that he has been the instrument
chosen by God, inspite of his humble origin, to effectuate the
redemption of this unfortunate country as foretold by Dr. Don Jose
Rizal in his magnificent verses which he composed in his prison cell
prior to his execution, liberating it from the Yoke of Spanish domination,

And in punishment for the impunity with which the Government

sanctioned the commission of abuses by its officials, and for the unjust
execution of Rizal and others who were sacrified in order to please the
insatiable friars in their hydropical thirst for vengeance against and
extermination of all those who oppose their Machiavellian ends,
trampling upon the Penal Code of these Islands, and of those
suspected persons arrested by the Chiefs of Detachments at the
instigation of the friars, without any form nor semblance of trial and
without any spiritual aid of our sacred Religion; and likewise, and for
the same ends, eminent Filipino priest, Doctor Don Jose Burgos, Don
Mariano Gomez, and Don Jacinto Zamora were hanged whose
innocent blood was shed due to the intrigues of these so-called
Religious corporations which made the authorities to believe that the
military uprising at the fort of San Felipe in Cavite on the night of
January 21, 1872 was instigated by those Filipino martyrs, thereby
impeding the execution of the decree- sentence issued by the Council
of State in the appeal in the administrative case interposed by the
secular clergy against the Royal Orders that directed that the parishes
under them within the jurisdiction of this Bishopric be turned over to the
Recollects in exchange for those controlled by them in Mindanao which
were to be transferred to the Jesuits, thus revoking them completely
and ordering the return of those parishes, all of which proceedings are
on file with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to which they are sent last
month of the year of the issuance of the proper Royal Degree which, in
turn, caused the grow of the tree of the liberty in our dear land that
grow more and more through the iniquitous measures of oppressions,
until the last drop of our chalice of suffering having been drained, the
first spark of revolution broke out in Caloocan, spread out to Santa
Mesa and continued its course to the adjoining regions of the province
were the unequalled heroism of its inhabitants fought a one sided battle
against superior forces of General Blanco and General Polavieja for a
period of 3 months, without proper arms nor ammunitions, except
bolos, pointed bamboos, and arrows.

Moreover, we confer upon our famous Dictator Don Emilio Aguinaldo

all the powers necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of
Government, including the prerogatives of granting pardon and
amnesty,

And lastly, it was results unanimously that this Nation, already free and
independent as of this day, must used the same flag which up to now is
being used, whose designed and colored are found described in the
attached drawing, the white triangle signifying the distinctive emblem of
the famous Society of the "Katipunan" which by means of its blood
compact inspired the masses to rise in revolution; the tree stars,
signifying the three principal Islands of these Archipelago - Luzon,
Mindanao, and Panay where the revolutionary movement started; the
sun representing the gigantic step made by the son of the country
along the path of Progress and Civilization; the eight rays, signifying
the eight provinces - Manila, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija,
Bataan, Laguna, and Batangas - which declares themselves in a state
of war as soon as the first revolt was initiated; and the colors of Blue,
Red, and White, commemorating the flag of the United States of
America, as a manifestation of our profound gratitude towards this
Great Nation for its disinterested protection which it lent us and
continues lending us.

And holding up this flag of ours, I present it to the gentlemen here

assembled: Don Segundo Arellano, Don Tiburcio del Rosario, Sergio
Matias, Don Agapito Zialcita, Don Flaviano Alonzo, Don Mariano
Legazpi, Don Jose Turiano Santiago y Acosta, Don Aurelio Tolentino,
Don Felix Ferrer, Don Felipe Buencamino, Don Fernando Canon
Faustino, Don Anastacio Pinzun, Don Timoteo Bernabe, Don Flaviano
Rodriguez, Don Gavino (?) Masancay, Don Narciso Mayuga, Don
Gregorio Villa, Don Luis Perez Tagle, Don Canuto Celestino, Don
Marcos Jocson, Don Martin de los Reyes, Don Ciriaco Bausa, Don
Manuel Santos, Don Mariano Toribio, Don Gabriel de los Reyes, Don
Hugo Lim, Don Emiliano Lim, Don Faustino Tinorio(?), Don Rosendo
Simon, Don Leon Tanjanque(?), Don Gregorio Bonifacio, Don Manuel
Salafranca, Don Simon Villareal, Don Calixto Lara, Don Buenaventura
Toribio, Don Gabriel Reyes, Don Hugo Lim, Don Emiliano Lim, Don
Fausto Tinorio(?), Don Rosendo Simon, Don Leon Tanjanque(?), Don
Gregorio Bonifacio, Don Manuel Salafranca, Don Simon Villareal, Don
Calixto Lara, Don Buenaventura Toribio, Don Zacarias Fajardo, Don
Florencio Manalo, Don Ramon Gana, Don Marcelino Gomez, Don
Valentin Politan, Don Felix Politan, Don Evaristo Dimalanta, Don
Gregorio Alvarez, Don Sabas de Guzman, Don Esteban Francisco,
Don Guido Yaptinchay, Don Mariano Rianzares Bautista, Don
Francisco Arambulo, Don Antonio Gonzales, Don Juan Antonio
 Gonzales, Don Juan Arevalo, Don Ramon Delfino, Don Honorio
Tiongco, Don Francisco del Rosario, Don Epifanio Saguil, Don
Ladislao Afable Jose, Don Sixto Roldan, Don Luis de Lara, Don
Marcelo Basa, Don Jose Medina, Don Efipanio Crisia(?), Don Pastor
Lopez de Leon, Don Mariano de los Santos, Don Santiago Garcia, Don
Andres Tria Tirona, Don Estanislao Tria Tirona, Don Daniel Tria Tirona,
Don Andres Tria Tirona, Don Carlos Tria Tirona, Don Sulpicio P.
Antony, Don Epitacio Asuncion, Don Catalino Ramon, Don Juan
Bordador, Don Jose del Rosario, Don Proceso Pulido, Don Jose Maria
del Rosario, Don Ramon Magcamco(?), Don Antonio Calingo, Don
Pedro Mendiola, Don Estanislao Galinco, Don Numeriano Castillo, Don
Federico Tomacruz, Don Teodoro Yatco, Don Ladislao Diwa(?).

Who solemnly swear to recognize and defend it unto the last drop of
their blood.

In witness thereof, I certify that this Act of Declaration of Independence

was signed by me and by all those here assembled including the only
stranger who attended those proceedings, a citizen of the U.S.A., Mr.
L.M. Johnson, a Colonel of Artillery.

Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista

War Counselor and Special Delegate-Designate

Background (Proclamation of Philippine Independence, June 12, 1898)

The Philippines independence from Spain was

proclaimed by Gen. Emilio F. Aguinaldo, then the president
of the country on June 12, 1898. The declaration of
independence took place at Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit (then
Cavite El Viejo), Cavite following the unfurling for the first
time of the Philippine flag and the playing of Marcha
Nacional (now the Philippine National Anthem) by the band
of San Francisco de Malabon.

The Act of Declaration of the Philippine Independence

by solemnly read by its author Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista, Ambrosio Rianzares
Bautista
the War Counselor and Special Delegate of President
Aguinaldo. It is a 16- page document, as Torres in 2018
pointed out, contained the country’s “aspirations of freedom from Spanish
rule, the sacrifices made, and the revolution that resulted from it.”
READING NO. 3 SPEECH OF CORAZON C. AQUINO BEFORE THE JOINT
SESSION OF UNITED STATES CONGRESS

Speech before the Joint session of the United States Congress (1986)
by Corazon Aquino

11th President of the Philippines

Delivered on September 18, 1986 at the United States Capitol, Washington,
D.C., United States of America

Mr. Speaker, Senator Thurmond, Distinguished members of Congress,

3 years ago I left America in grief, to bury my husband Ninoy Aquino. I
thought I had left it also, to lay to rest his restless dream of Philippine
freedom. Today, I have returned as the President of a free people.

In burying Ninoy, a whole nation honored him by that brave and

selfless act of giving honor to a nation in shame recovered its own. A
country that had lost faith in its future, founded in a faithless and
brazen act of murder. So, in giving we receive, in losing we find, and
out of defeat we snatched our victory.

For the nation, Ninoy became the pleasing sacrifice that answered their
prayers for freedom. For myself and our children, Ninoy was a loving
husband and father. His loss, three times in our lives was always a
deep and painful one.

Fourteen years ago this month, was the first time we lost him. A
President turned dictator and traitor to his oath, suspended the
constitution and shut down the Congress that was much like this one
before which I’m honored to speak. He detained my husband along
with thousands of others - Senators, publishers, and anyone who had
spoken up for the democracy as its end drew near. But for Ninoy, a
long and cruel ordeal was reserved. The dictator already knew that
Ninoy was not a body merely to be imprisoned but a spirit he must
break. For even as the dictatorship demolished one-by-one; the
institutions of democracy, the press, the congress, the independence of
a judiciary, the protection of the Bill of Rights, Ninoy kept their spirit
alive in himself.

The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They

locked him up in a 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 was the first time my children and I felt we
had lost him.

When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for 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 him 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. God meant him for other things, he felt. He did not know that an
early death would still be his fate, that only the timing was wrong.

At any time during his long ordeal, Ninoy could have made a separate
peace with a dictatorship as so many of his countrymen had done. But
the spirit of democracy that inheres in our race and animates this
chamber could not be allowed to die. He held out in the loneliness of
his cell and the frustration of exile, the democratic alternative to the
insatiable greed and mindless cruelty of the right and the purging
holocaust of the left.

And then, we lost him irrevocably and more painfully than 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. And so began
the revolution that has brought me to democracy’s most famous home,
the Congress of the United States.

The task had fallen on my shoulders, to continue offering the

democratic alternative to our people.

Archibald MacLeish had said that democracy must be defended by

arms when it is attacked by arms, and with truth when it is attacked by
lies. He failed to say how it shall be won.

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.

Last year, in an excess of arrogance, the dictatorship called for its

doom in a snap election. The people obliged. With over a million
signatures they drafted me to challenge the dictatorship. And I, obliged.
The rest is the history that dramatically unfolded on your television
screens and across the front pages of your newspapers.

You saw a nation armed with courage and integrity, stand fast by
democracy against threats and corruption. You saw women poll
watchers break out in tears as armed goons crashed the polling places
to steal the ballots. But just the same, they tied themselves to the ballot
boxes. You saw a people so committed to the ways of democracy that
they were prepared to give their lives for its pale imitation. At the end of
the day before another wave of fraud could distort the results, I
announced the people’s victory.

Many of you here today played a part in changing the policy of your
country towards ours. We, the Filipinos thank each of you for what you
did. For balancing America’s strategic interest against human concerns
illuminates the American vision of the world. The co-chairman of the
United States observer team, in his report to the President said, “I was
witness to an extraordinary manifestation of democracy on the part of
the Filipino people. The ultimate result was the election of Mrs.
Corazon Aquino as President and Mr. Salvador Laurel as Vice-
President of the Philippines.”

When a subservient parliament announced my opponent’s victory, the

people then turned out in the streets and proclaimed me the President
of all the people. And true to their word, when a handful of military
leaders declared themselves against the dictatorship, the people rallied
to their protection. Surely, the people take care of their own. It is on
that faith and the obligation it entails that I assumed the Presidency.

As I came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it. That is my contract

with my people and my commitment to God. He had willed that the
blood drawn with a lash shall not in my country be paid by blood drawn
by the sword but by the tearful joy of reconciliation. We have swept
away absolute power by a limited revolution that respected the life and
freedom of every Filipino.

Now, we are restoring full constitutional government. 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 jealously
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.

Given the polarization and breakdown we inherited, this is no small

achievement. 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. I don’t think
anybody in or outside our country, concerned for a democratic and
open Philippines doubts what must be done. Through political
initiatives and local re-integration programs, we must seek to bring the
insurgents down from the hills and by economic progress and justice,
show them that which the best-intentioned among them fight. As
president among my people, I will not betray the cause of peace by
which I came to power. Yet, equally and again, no friend of Filipino
democracy will challenge this. I will not stand by and allow an insurgent
leadership to spurn our offer of peace and kill our young soldiers and
threaten our new freedom.

Yet, I must explore the path of peace to the utmost. For at its end,
whatever disappointment I meet there is the moral basis for laying
down the Olive branch of peace and taking up the sword of war.
Still, should it come to that, I will not waiver from the course laid down
by your great liberator.

“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right
as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in to bind
up the nation’s wounds. To care for him who shall have borne the
battle and for his widow and for his orphans to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with
all nations.”

Like Abraham Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary

before mercy. Like Lincoln, I don’t relish it. Yet, I will do whatever it
takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my country.

Finally may I turn to that other slavery: our $26 billion 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.

And no assistance or liberality commensurate with the calamity that

was vested on us have been extended. Yet ours must have been the
cheapest revolution ever. With little help from others, we Filipinos
fulfilled the first and most difficult condition of the debt negotiation, the
full restoration of democracy and responsible government. Elsewhere
and in other times, a more stringent world economic conditions,
marshal plans and their like were felt to be necessary companions of
returning democracy.

When I met with President Reagan, we began an important dialogue

about cooperation and the strengthening of friendship between our two
countries. That meeting was both a confirmation and a new beginning.
I am sure it will lead to positive results in all areas of common concern.
Today, we face the aspiration of a people who have known so much
poverty and massive unemployment for the past 14 years. And yet
offer their lives for the abstraction of democracy.

Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished village.

They came to me with one cry, democracy. Not food although they
clearly needed it but democracy. Not work, although they surely
wanted it but democracy. Not money, for they gave what little they had
to my campaign. They didn’t expect me to work a miracle that would
instantly put 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.

We face a communist insurgency that feeds on economic deterioration

even as we carry a great share of the free world defenses in the
Pacific. These are only two of the many burdens my people carry even
as they try to build a worthy and enduring house for their new
democracy. That may serve as well as a redoubt for freedom in Asia.
Yet, no sooner as one stone laid than two are taken away. Half our
export earnings, $2 billion dollars out of $4 billion dollars which is all we
can earn in the restrictive market of the world, must go to pay just the
interest on a debt whose benefit the Filipino people never received.

Still we fought for honor and if only for honor, we shall pay. And yet,
should we have to ring the payments from the sweat of our men’s faces
and sink all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two-hundred fifty years
of unrequited toil. Yet, to all Americans, as the leader to a proud and
free people, I address this question, “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.”

Three years ago I said, Thank you America for the haven from
oppression and the home you gave Ninoy, myself and our children and
for the three happiest years of our lives together. Today I say, join us
America as we build a new home for democracy; another haven for the
oppressed so it may stand as a shining testament of our two nations’
commitment to freedom.

Background (Speech of Corazon Aquino)

Corazon C. Aquino is the first female president and the 11 th President

of the Philippines. She is the president after the twenty (20) year rule of
former president Ferdinand E. Marcos who was removed from office through
the bloodless EDSA People Power Revolution.

She is the housewife of former Senator Benigno

S. Aquino Jr., the most prominent opposition leader
during the presidency of former president Marcos. She
ran for president against Marcos during the 1985 Snap
Elections. She was believed to won that election
characterized by fraud and anomalies. Marcos was later
proclaimed winner by the Batasang Pambansa based
from the COMELEC, He will later be removed from
office because of EDSA People Power Revolution.

Corazon C. Aquino President Cory Aquino’s speech before the Joint

Session of the US Congress talks about the
experiences of her husband Ninoy Aquino in fighting for democracy in the
country; the condition of the Philippines under Marcos rule; and the
restoration of democracy in the Philippines through the 1986 People Power
Revolution. The speech was delivered on September 18, 1986 at the United
States Capitol, Washington, D.C., United States of America and was
numerously applauded by the members of the US Congress.

READING NO. 4 TESTIMONIES OF THE SURVIVORS OF BATAAN DEATH

MARCH

Excerpt from interview with former American POW Alf R. Larson

You and Your group began the march on April 12, 1942?

“Yes. We began walking the next morning. It was about eighty miles
from where we started to where we ended up. It doesn’t seem very far,
but we were in such awful condition that eighty miles was a heck of a
 long way to walk. It took six days to get to San Fernando […] On the
first day, I saw two things I will never forget. A Filipino man had been
beheaded. His body lay on the ground with blood everywhere. His
head was short distance away. Also, there was a dead Filipino woman
with her legs spread apart and her dress pulled up over her. She
obviously had been raped and there was a bamboo stake on her
private area […]”

You didn’t eat a thing for four days and you were already starved when you
were captured.

“That’s right. We weren’t given any water either. There was good water
all around us. Artesian wells flowing everywhere! They would not let us
go and get it. Men went stark raving mad! Soldiers broke ranks and ran
towards the water. They went completely insane because they had to
get it. They never got it! Of course, you know what happened to them.”

Our soldiers were shot before they reached water?

“That’s right.”

Excerpt from interview with former American POW Alfred X. Burgos

“[…] If you should not want to walk anymore—let’s say you were
tired—well, I’ve seen them shoot walking prisoners of war—actually be
shot. Or if you tried to get food which was thrown by the civilians to the
walking military, the Filipino military, that not only endangered you, but
the one who was giving the food or throwing the food to you […] If you
could not keep up with the group in the Death March, rather than slow
the Death March, they’d get rid of you by shooting you […] Oh, they
bayoneted people, they shot people, and if they think that you were
delaying the Death March, you’re dead.”

Except from the book “My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March” by former
American POW Lester I. Tenney

“[…] I was talking with Bronge and Cigoi when a Japanese officer came
riding by an horseback. He was waving his samurai sword from side to
side, apparently trying to cut off the head of anyone he could. I was on
the outside of the column when he rode past, and although I ducked
the main thrust of the sword, the end of the blade hit my left shoulder,
missing my head and neck by inches. It left a large gash that had to
have stitches if I were to continue on this march and continue living. As
the Japanese office rode off, Bronge and Cigoi called for a medic to fall
back to our position. The medic sewed up the cut with thread, which
was all he had with him and for the next two miles or so, my two friends
carried me so that I would not have to fall out of line. We all knew that
falling out of line meant certain death.” (p. 53)
Background (Bataan Death March)

There are more than 76,000 USAFFE

soldiers, including 66,000 Filipinos who laid
down their arms in Bataan. These soldiers
marched from Mariveles, Bataan to Camp
O’Donnell, a concentration camp in Capas,
Tarlac (Zaide, ). It was called the infamous
DEATH MARCH that began on April 10,
1942.

The Death March that began on April

10, 1942 has two major points; Mariveles,
Capas National Shrine Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga, a
distance of over a hundred kilometers.
Thousands of soldiers walked from Mariveles to San Fernando. Many were
sick, hungry and thirsty. They were marched without any food or water, and
were even intentionally prevented from having water when it was available.
Food were thrown by civilians to the soldiers but the moment the Japanese
soldiers caught them getting the food, they will be shot to death. Some Filipino
and American soldiers who just started their ordeal along the way were
beaten and tortured. Those who are physically weak were bayoneted, and
beheaded. Some were stopped, making unmistakable demand for money,
rings, watches, fountain pens, knives, flashlights stripping them of their
valuables, except for the clothing they wore. Those who were slow in giving
up their last earthly possessions were slapped, beaten or even shot to death
(Office of the Army Chief Historian, Philippine Army).
READING NO. 5 POLITICAL CARTOONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Cartoon 1

“Uncle Sam to Little Aguinaldo -- See Here Sonny, Whom Are You
Going to Throw Those Rocks At? September 1898. Charles L. Bartholomew,
Minneapolis Journal. (Cartoons of the Spanish-American War by Bart,
Minneapolis: Journal Printing Company, 1899). The cartoon shows President
Emilio Aguinaldo’s condition after Spain gave the control of the Philippines to
the United State by virtue of Treaty of Paris.
 Cartoon 2

The Editorial cartoon on National Thanksgiving Day, November 26,

1936. (Photo from Philippines Graphic.). It shows that the Filipino people are
grateful to President Manuel L. Quezon for giving them “the right to live”.

Manuel L. Quezon, is the second president of the Philippines and the

first president of Philippine Commonwealth of the Philippines. Commonwealth
was the government of the Philippines from 1935 to 1946 (excluding 1942 to
1945, the period of Japanese occupation in the Philippines). It was the
transitional government of the country in preparation for its full autonomy and
achievement of independence.
 Cartoon 3

Women Suffrage. The editorial cartoon depicts the support shown by

Former President Manuel L. Quezon to the Women’s Suffrage Movement.
President Quezon, having signed the Woman's Suffrage Plebiscite Bill on
September 30, 1936, said that, “…it is essential and even imperative that the
right to vote be granted to Filipino women if they are not to be treated as mere
slaves” and that, for women, it was “…their opportunity to wield a very
important weapon to defend their right to secure for themselves and those to
follow them their well-being and happiness.”

The Women’s Suffrage movement in the Philippines started as early as

1906 pioneered by Pura Villanueva Kalaw. Kalaw organized the Associacion
Feminista Ilongga that led to the proposal of the first women suffrage bill in
the Philippine Assembly in 1907. A women’s suffrage plebiscite was held in
1937 winning the “yes” for the female to have the right to participate in
elections, of 447,725 over 44,307 “no” votes.
 Cartoon 4

The cartoon symbolizes the Marcos Rule characterized by political

patronage, crony capitalism and corruption in the government. Ferdinand
Marcos is the 10th President of the Philippines from December 30, 1965 to
February 25, 1986. The longest served president of the country so far.
 Cartoon 5

This political cartoon shows the martial law rule of former President
Ferdinand Marcos characterized by the suspension of writ of habeas corpus.
It also projects the huge role of former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile,
tagged as the administrator of martial law.

Marcos government is marked by his declaration of Martial Law or

Proclamation 1081 on September 21, 1972. It placed the entire Philippines
under military rule characterized by dissolution of press freedom and other
civil rights, arrest and incarceration of opposition leaders and political
activists, human rights violations and abuses of military men.

CLASS ACTIVITY

1. Critical essay about a primary source: students are to discuss the

following:

• Importance of the text;

• the author’s background;
• the context of the document; and
• its contribution to understanding Philippine history.
Name:_____________________ Date:______________
Year and Section:____________

CONTEXT AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY SOURCE

Name of Primary
Source:____________________________________________
Type of Primary
Source:_____________________________________________

Context Analysis

The historical context of the source:

Describe the time and place it was written and the situation at the time.
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Describe the author’s background, intent (to the extent discernable), and
authority on the subject.
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Content Analysis

Identify the author’s main argument or thesis

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Evaluate the author’s claim based on the evidences presented or other

available evidence at the time.
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Over-all assessment of the primary source. This may include

Discussion of the knowledge gained by the reader from the primary
source;
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Critical assessment on the historical value/ significance of the source in

understanding the events of Philippine History.
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