RIZAL’S ANNOTATION OF

ANTONIO
DE MORGA’S “SUCESOS DE
LAS ISLAS
GROUP 1FILIPINAS”
An·no·ta·tion
/ˌanəˈtāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: annotation; plural noun: annotations
a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram.
INTRODUCTION
• During the Spanish colonial period, Philippine history was primarily
written by the Spaniards.

• Early Spanish historians took note of the native’s appearance and way
of life.

• However, many of these early histories depicted the Filipinos in

negative terms and often contained biases against the colonized
people.
INTRODUCTION
• Jose Rizal’s annotation of Morga’s work was an attempt to
redress this biased view of the Filipinos.

• Although Rizal’s annotations have been “largely disregarded”, his work has been
credited as the first Philippine history to be written from the viewpoint of a Filipino.
 MEANING OF SUCESOS DE
LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
• Sucesos means a “work of an honest observer, a versatile bureaucrat, who
know the workings of the administration from the inside.”

• Las Islas Filipinas means “The Philippine Island” in English and was named in
honor of King Philip II of Spain.

• Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas is also known as “Events in the Philippine

Islands.”
 ABOUT SUCESOS DE LAS
ISLAS FILIPINAS
• One of the important works about the Philippines during the colonization of
Spain, published by Antonio De Morga in Mexico 1609.

• Explains the political, social and economical aspects of a colonizer and the
colonized country.

• The book is based on the experience and observation of Antonio De Morga

• Annotated by Jose Rizal with a prologue by Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt

THE 8 CHAPTERS OF SUCESOS
DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
- Of the first discoveries of the Eastern islands.
- Of the government of Dr. Francisco de Sande.
- Of the government of don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peiialosa.
- Of the government of Dr. Santiago de Vera.
- Of the government of Gomes Perez Dasrnariiias.
- Of the government of don Francisco Tello.
- Of the government of don Pedro de Acuiia.
- An account of the Philippine Islands.
PURPOSE OF SUCESOS DE LAS
ISLAS FILIPINAS
• Morga (1609) wrote that the purpose for writing Sucesos was to 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 to time
in the great kingdoms and among the pagan peoples surrounding the islands. “
WHO WAS ANTONIO DE
MORGA?
 WHO WAS ANTONIO DE
MORGA?
• Morga’s full name is Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay.
• Born in Seville in the year 1559
• Graduated “Canon Law” at University of Salamanca, 1574-1578
• A professor at Osuna but immediately went back to Salamanca to study Civil
Law
• Went to the Philippines as Lieutenant Governor <1593>
• Published the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas in Mexico in the year 1609
 JOSE RIZAL AND THE
SUCESOS
Prior to the annotation of “Sucesos de las Islas de Filipinas,” Rizal had read
historical accounts about the Philippines such as books written by Antonio
Pigafetta, Fr. Chirino and other Spanish chroniclers and historians.

• Antonio Pigafetta- First Voyage around the world

• Fr. Juan de Plascencia- Customs of the Tagalogs
• Fr. Pedro Chirino- Relación de las Islas Filipinas
• Fr. Fransisco Alcina- History of the Bisayan People in the Philippine Islands
 WHAT LEAD JOSE RIZAL TO
MORGA’S WORK?
• Rizal was an earnest seeker of truth, and this marked him as a historian.
• He had a burning desire to know exactly the condition of the Philippines when
the Spaniards came ashore to the islands
• His theory was that the country was economically self-sufficient and
prosperous. Entertained the idea that it had a lively and vigorous community
• He believed the conquest of the Spaniards contributed in part to the decline of
the Philippine’s rich traditions and culture.
 WHAT LEAD JOSE RIZAL TO
MORGA’S WORK?
• He then decided to undertake the annotation of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos
De Las Islas Filipinas.
• His personal friendship with Ferdinand Blumentritt provided the inspiration
for doing a new edition of Morga’s Sucesos.
• Devoting four months of research and writing and almost a year to get his
manuscript published in Paris in January 1890.
 WHY JOSE RIZAL CHOSE
MORGA'S
WORK?
• First, Morga’s work in its original Spanish edition was rare. In fact, the
original Spanish text had never been reprinted in full until Rizal published his
annotations in 1889.

• Rizal’s second consideration for the choice of Morga was that it was the only
civil, as opposed to religious or ecclesiastical, history of the Philippines written
during the colonial period.
 WHY JOSE RIZAL CHOSE MORGA'S
WORK?
• The third consideration for the choice of Morga was Rizal’s opinion that this
secular account was more objective, more trustworthy, than those written by the
religious missionaries which were liberally sprinkled with tales of miracles and
apparitions.

• The fourth consideration in Rizal’s choice of the Morga was that it appeared
more sympathetic, at least in parts, to the indios, in contrast to the friar accounts,
many of which were biased or downright racist in tone and interpretation
 WHY JOSE RIZAL CHOSE MORGA'S
WORK?

• The fifth and last consideration was that Morga was an eyewitness, and
therefore a primary source, on the Philippines and its people at the point of first
contact with Spain.
 HOW DID JOSE RIZAL KNOW
ABOUT MORGA’S WORK?
• Rizal found the book while he was in London at the British Museum’s reading
room.

• He hand copied the whole 351 pages of the book and annotated every chapter of
it
 RIZAL’S PURPOSE OF
ANNOTATING MORGA’S WORK
• To awaken the consciousness of the Filipinos regarding their glorious ways of
the past

• To correct what has been distorted about the Philippines due to Spanish
Conquest

• To prove that the Filipinos are civilized/advanced even before the coming of
the Spaniards
 HIGHLIGHT OF RIZAL’S
ANNOTATION
• The people of the Philippines had a culture on their own, before the coming of
the Spaniards.

• The people of the pre-Hispanic Philippines is advanced, has high literacy rate,
self sufficient and has smooth foreign relations.

•Filipinos were demoralized, exploited and ruined by the Spanish colonization.

• The present state of the Philippines was not necessarily superior to its past.
 EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S
STATEMENT AND JOSE
RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“Their regular food is rice… together with boiled fish where there is an
abundance, and pork or venison likewise meat of wild buffalo. They prefer meat
and fish, saltfish which begin to decompose and smell.”
- According to Morga
 EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S STATEMENT
AND JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“This is another preoccupation of the Spaniards who, like any other nation, in
the matter of food, loath to which they are not accustomed to or is unknown to
them. The English, for example, is horrified on seeing a Spaniard eating snails;
to the Spaniard beefsteak is repugnant and he can’t understand how raw
beefsteak can be eaten; the Chinese who eat tahuri and shark cannot stand
Roquefort cheese etc. The fish Morga mentions does not taste better when it is
beginning to rot; all on the contrary; it is bagoong and all those who have eaten
it and tastes it know that it is not or ought not to be rotten.”
- Rizal’s annotation
 EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S STATEMENT
AND JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“Women commit infidelity for money.”

-According to Morga

“You can find it everywhere especially in Europe. This weakness for pay is not a
defect monopolized by Filipino men and women.”
- Rizal’s Annotation
 EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S STATEMENT
AND JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“The natives ate the fish with “a green fruit, like walnuts, which they call
‘paos’.”
-According to Morga

According to Rizal, this “paos” was, in fact, the miniature mango called “paho,”
scientific name mangifera altissima. (Since the ‘h’ is not pronounced in Spanish,
“pahos” would have indeed sounded like “paos” if said by a Spaniard.)
- Rizal’s Annotation
EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S STATEMENT
AND JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“They bury the dead in their houses, keeping their bodies and bones for a long
time in boxes and venerating their skulls.”
-According to Morga

“We find it more natural and pious to venerate the remains of our loved ones
than those fanatical martyrs whom we have no dealings and who probably will
never remember us.”
- Rizal’s Annotation
 EXAMPLES OF MORGA’S STATEMENT
AND JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION

“The Bisayans draw pattern first before putting black powder where blood oozes
out.”
-According to Morga

“This is true. This is the same method as the Japanese.”

- Rizal’s Annotation