Annotation of Antonio

Morga’s
“Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas”
Rizal’s Annotations to Morga’s “Successos de las
Islas Filipinas, 1609”
Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks,
so he is; a man who does not think for himself
and allows himself to be guided by the thought of
another is like the beast led by a halter. – Jose Rizal
 Meaning of Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas
• De Las Islas means “ The Philippine Island”
in English and was named in honor of King
Philip II of Spain.
• Sucesos means the work of an honest
observer. A versatile bureaucrat, who knew
the workings of the administration from the
inside.
 Background information/ Important about
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
1. This is one of the first books ever to tackle in Philippine history.
2. Book that describes the events and outside of the country from 1493 to 1603,
including the history of the Philippines.
3. Consist o 8 Chapters.
4. Discuss the political, social and economical aspects and the colonized country.
5. The content of the book is based on documentary research, observation and
personal experience of Morga.
6. Rizal is a secondary source of the book due to his Annotations.
 The work consists of 8 chapters
1. Of the first discoveries of the Eastern islands.
2. Of the government of Dr. Francisco de Sande.
3. Of the government of Don. Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa.
4. Of the government of Dr. Santiago de Vera.
5. Of the government of Gomes Perez Dasmarinas.
6. Of the government of Don Francisco Tello
7. Of the government of Don Pedro Acuna.
8. An account of the Philippine Islands
Antonio de Morga Sanchez Garay
• Spanish lawyer and a government
official during the 17th Century
• Historical Anthropologist
• Author of Sucesos De Las Islas
Filipinas
• Wrote the first lay formal history of
the Philippines conquest by Spain
• He is a doctorate in Canon and Civil
Laws
• Antonio de Morga (1559-1636) was a Spanish historian and
lawyer and a notable colonial official for 43 years in the
Philippines, New Spain, and Peru.
• He stayed in the Philippines, then a colony of Spain, from 1594 to
1604.
• As Deputy Governor in the Philippines, he re-established the
Audiencia and took over the function of judge (“oidor”).
• When reassigned to Mexico, he published the book Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas in 1609, considered one of the most significant
works on the early history of the Spanish colonization of the
Philippines.
• The history is said to cover the years from 1493 to 1603.
discussions deal with the political, social and economic
phases of life of both natives and their colonizers.
• On the dedication page, Morga writes: “this small
bodies is a faithful narrative, devoid of any artifice and
ornament regarding the discovery, conquest and
conversion of the Philippine Islands, together with the
various events in which they have taken part specifically
describing their original condition.
Purpose of Sucesos De Las Islas
Filipinas
Morga (1609) wrote the purpose for writing Sucesos
was so he could chronicle “the deeds achieved by our
Spaniards, the discovery, conquest, and conversion of
the Filipinas Islands-- as well as various fortunes that
they have from time in the great kingdoms and among
the pagan peoples surrounding the islands”.
Blumentritt’s Influence on Rizal
According to Dr. Ferdinand
Bluementritt Spanish historian
- Dr. Antonio de Morga wrote
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
which was published in Mexico in
1609
- He was also the one who
encourage Rizal to write about the
Philippines pre-colonial history.
• Both have their own views in geography society, faith
and economy during the pre-colonial era.
• Rizal agreed to some of Morgas Claims, but disagree
to some and made further connections and
comments.
• Morga was not knowledgeable on Filipino culture and
tradition that’s why Rizal made it his duty to properly
annotate Morga’s writing.
Rizal’s Objectives
1. To awaken consciousness of the Filipinos their glorious ways of the past
2. To correct what has been distorted about the Philippines due to Spanish
conquest
3. To prove that Filipinos are civilized even before the coming of the Spaniards
 The two “Sucesos”
Morga wrote the “Sucesos” so he could chronicle:
“.....the deeds of our Spaniards, the discovery conquest, and conversion of the
Filipinos Islands as well as various fortunes that they have from time on the great
kingdoms and among the pagan peoples surrounding the islands”
However, Rizal argued that the conversion and conquest were not as widespread as
portrayed because the missionaries were only successful in conquering a portion of the
population of individual islands.
He speculated that the people of the islands were economically self-sufficient and
prosperous. Further, he was convinced that they ad a dynamic community. Rizal
asserted that the conquest of Spain contributed to the decline of the rich traditions and
culture of the Philippine natives.
 These and other misconceptions written by Morga, and course. Rizal being
an earnest seeker of truth himself, annotated the “Sucesos” so he could
“objectively “ describe the conditions in the Philippines when the Spaniards
came to conquer the islands. Interestingly, this would not possibly materialize
without the persuasion and support from his friend. Ferdinand Blumentritt, who
fittingly wrote the prologue of his annoted version.
Among other things, Rizal’s purpose of his edition of Morga’s “Sucesos” is
this:
“...if the book succeeds in awakening in you the consciousness of our past
when has been obliterated from memory and in rectifying what has been
falsified and calumniate, I shall not have labored in vain, and on such basis,
little though it may be, we can all devote ourselves to studying the future.”
Same Book, Different Perspective
Here are some of the excerpts from Morga’s version and Rizal’s edition of the “Sucesos”
Morga : “ The first island conquered and colonized was Cebu.”
Rizal : “ Sugbu, in the dialect of the country.”
Morga : “... a strip of colored cloth wrapped about the waist and passed between the legs, so
that it covered the privy parts, reaching half way down the thigh, these are called bahaques.”
Rizal : “Bahag a richly dyed cloth, generally edged with gold among the chiefs.”
Morga : “ Winter and summer for the rains generally last in all these islands from June until
September. The summer lasts from October to the end of May, with clear skies and fair winds at
sea.”
Rizal : “ Morga considers the rainy season like winter and the rest of the year as
summer. However, this is not very exact, for at Manila, In December, January, and
February, the thermometer is lower than in August and September.”
Morga : “.... they prefer to est salt fish which begin to decompose and smell.”
Rizal :” The fish that Morga mentions does not taste better when it is beginning to rot; all,
on the contrary, if is bagoong and all those who have eaten it and tasted it know it is
not or ought not to be rotten.”

Rizal’s Arguments of Morga’s Sucesos

Three main propositions were emphasized in Rizal’s New Edition of Morga’s Sucesos:
1. The people of the Philippines had a culture on their own, even before the coming of
the Spaniards;
2. Filipinos were decimated, demoralized, exploited, and ruined by the Spanish
colonization; and
3. The present state of the Philippines was not necessarily superior to its past.
4.
Further, Rizal precisely wrote that as a colony of Spain:
“ The Philippines was depopulated, impoverished and retarded,
astounded, with no confidence in her past, still without faith in her
present and without faltering hope in the future.”
“...little by little, they (Filipinos) lost their old tradition, the mementos
of their past; they gave up their writing, their songs, their poems, their
laws, in order to learn other doctrines which they did not understand,
another aesthetic, different from those inspired by their climate and their
own eyes. They become ashamed of what was their own; they began to
admire and praise whatever was foreign and incomprehensible; their
spirit damaged and it surrendered”