CONTROVERSIES AND

CONFLICTING ISSUES IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY
Objectives:

Explain the process of multiperspectivity.

Make a research paper on a particular issue in
Philippine history.
Argue for or against a particular issue using primary
sources.
 RECOGNITION OF MULTIPLICITY OF
INTERPRETATION
“Multiperspectivity”

- The term “multiperspectivity” was rarely used within the context of school-based history education before the
1990s.

- The term began to be used more widely in Europe in the early 1990s, particularly at history conferences,
seminars and in-service teacher training workshops organised by the Council of Europe and, the European
Standing Conference of History Teachers’ Associations.

Nevertheless, the ideas behind “multiperspectivity”. if not the term itself, have a longer pedigree and are firmly
rooted in three distinct but clearly related developments within school-based education. The first of these
developments was the so-called “new history”
The “New History” approach reflected dissatisfaction with the more
traditional approach to history education in schools, with its emphasis on

1. knowledge transmission;
2. the weighting of course content heavily in favor of political and constitutional history;
3. a focus predominantly on events and personalities;
4. the construction of the syllabus around a content-rich, chronological survey of national history; and
5. the underlying assumption that the national historical narrative mainly coincided with the history of the
largest national grouping and the dominant linguistic and cultural community.
By contrast, the “new history” approach, whilst not denying the
importance of chronology and historical knowledge, aimed to establish
a better balance within history teaching between teaching students
about the past and providing them with the means to think historically
about it. Consequently, there was a greater emphasis in the history
classroom on students learning how to analyze, interpret and
synthesize evidence obtained from a variety of primary and secondary
sources.
Learning to think historically has also meant learning that historians and others seeking to
reconstruct the past, including museum curators, film makers, television producers and
journalists, will be constrained by the range of sources they can access, will interpret and use
the same evidence in different ways and will select and put emphasis on different aspects of
the evidence.

In other words, that most, if not all, historical phenomena can be interpreted and
reconstructed from a variety of perspectives, reflecting the limitations of the evidence, the
subjective interests of those who are interpreting and reconstructing it, and the shifting
cultural influences which determine to some degree what each new generation regards as
significant in the past.
 The Site Of The First Mass

The site of the first mass controversy was one of the topics argued upon by the scholars and historians in the Philippines. This
controversy involves different accounts that cause confusions and misconceptions among those who would encounter it.

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 that kept by Francisco Albo, the other and more complete was the account by Antonio
Pigafetta.

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 circumnavigated the world. He kept a log; however, it does mention of the first mass.
But, he described the location of Mazava fits the location of the island of Limasawa, at the southern tip of
Leyte.
The Site Of The First Mass

It must be noted that in Albo’s account,

the location of Masava fits the location of
the island of Limasawa, at the southern
tip of Leyte. Also, Albo does not mention
the First Mass, but only the planting of
the cross upon a mountain-top from
which could be seen three islands to the
West and Southwest which also fits the
southern of Limasawa.
 The Site Of The First Mass

Antonio Pigafetta -was an Italian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice
Islands.
- he served as Magellan's assistant and kept an accurate journal , an eye witnessed of the
events, particularly the first mass. (Butuan is the location of the first mass.)

- was one of the 18 men who made the complete trip, returning to Spain in 1522
Primary Source, Pigafetta & seven days in
Mazaua
 The Site Of The First Mass

 Miguel A. Bernad – A Jesuit

priest laid down an argument
that the accounts did state the
existence of the river where the
location of the first mass
happened, an omission that
somehow have lessened the
support of their accounts.
The Site Of The First Mass

https://nhcp.gov.ph/official-position-of-the-
national-historical-commission-of-the-
philippines-on-the-site-of-the-1521-easter- https://www.cnn.ph/news/
sunday-mass-2 / 2020/8/20/NHCP-affirms-
Limasawa-Island-as-site-of-first-
Catholic-mass-in-the-country.html

https://
newsinfo.inquirer.net/
1325039/limasawa-
https://www.manilatimes.net/ not-butuan-affirmed-
2020/08/20/latest-stories/ as-site-of-first-mass-
breakingnews/limasawa-island- in-ph
is-site-of-first-mass-in-ph-says-
historical-commission/757830
 What happened in the CAVITE MUTINY?

 The year 1872 is a historic year of two events: The Cavite Mutiny and martyrdom of the three priest, Mariano,
Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora later on immortalized as “GOMBURZA”
 These events are very important milestones in the Philippine History a major factor in the awakening of nationalism
among the Filipinos of that time.
 CAVITE MUTINY

Jose Montero y Vidal – – A Although regarded as a historian, his account of the mutiny was
Spanish historian stated that the criticized as woefully biased and rabid for a scholar.
abolition of privileges enjoyed by
the Cavite arsenal of exemption
from the tribute was the cause of
mutiny. The mutiny was done
through peaceful means—by
spreading democratic and
republican books and pamphlet.
 CAVITE MUTINY

Rafael Izquierdo –
A governor-general that stated the causes of the
mutiny are the abolition of the privileges in
labor as well as the presence of the native
clergy. The mutiny was executed in a bloody
and violent manner and the masterminds were
the GOMBURZA priests.
CAVITE MUTINY

Dr. Trinidad Hermenegildo

Pardo de Tavera – The incident
was a bloody mutiny by Filipino
soldiers and laborers of Cavite
arsenal to the dissatisfaction
arising from the draconian
policies of Izquierdo.
CAVITE MUTINY

Edmund Plauchut - A French writer contradicted the

Spanish accounts, telling that the GOMBURZA priest were
innocent and in no way related to the incident.
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fernando-tells-youth-remember-bulacans-contributions-to-ph-independence/ndependence/