ANNOTATION OF ANTONIO

MORGA’S SUCESOS DE LAS ISLAS

FILIPINAS
 Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, learners would be able to:

1.Discuss the Rizal’s annotation on Morga’s Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas.

2.Describe and understand scenarios during pre-colonial Philippines.

3.Analyze Rizal’s ideas on how to rewrite Philippine history.

4.Compare and contrast Rizal and Morga’s different views about Filipino and
Philippine culture
INTRODUCTION
This lesson provides relevant historic information and foundational knowledge
about the events that happened inside the Philippines in the pre-colonial period.
This also emphasizes politics, economic possessions, culture, and traditions of
Filipino before. This will help you understand the situation of the country in the
pre-colonial times and describe the occurrences and systems the country practice
before the colonizers arrived. Moreover, this lesson also gives deeper realization
to one of the profound annotations to Sucessos De Las Islas Filipinas - a work
done by Dr. Jose Rizal.
Topics to be discussed:
1.‘Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas’ by Antonio de Morga
a. Author’s Biography
b. Rizal as Secondary Source
c. Overview of Morga’s Work
d. Morga’s Point of View

2.Rizal’s Annotations of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

a. Purpose of Rizal’s Annotations
b. Resemblance to Morga’s Work
c. Rizal’s Point of View
d. Relevant Arguments and Commendations of Rizal
 MORGA’S
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Antonio de Morga is the author and sole writer of the
book entitled “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas” where it
serves as an account of Spanish observations about the
Filipinos and the country. He was a Spanish lawyer and
official in the Philippines during the 17th century. This is
believed to be one of the first books ever to tackle
Philippine history with Spanish interpretations as to its
basis, however, if we will talk about the first Filipino to
wrote the Philippine history (aside from the two first novels
– Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo), it is Rizal.
RIZAL AS THE SECONDARY
SOURCE
Jose Rizal was the secondary source of the book due to his annotations which corrected
what has been misinterpreted about the Philippines during the Spanish conquest since the
author’s grounds of the book were only based on observations without further
communications and interactions from the people of the colonized country. The book
described the events inside and outside the Philippines from 1493 to 1603, including the
history of the Philippines for the years mentioned. It also discussed the political, social,
and economic aspects of the colonizer and the country colonized.
•1888 (August 18) – After two hundred seventy-nine (279) years Jose Rizal began to copy
by hand the entire first edition of Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
• 1888 (December 11) – Rizal went in Madrid and Barcelona to search the historical
materials in Bibliotheque Nationale (National Library).
• 1889 (By the end of September) – He brought the manuscript in Paris for printing and
sent letter to Ferdinand Blumetritt requesting him to write an introduction.
• In January 1890, Rizal published his annotation;
• “Sucesos de las Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de Morga. Obra publicada en mejico en
el atlo de 1609, nummente sacada a luz y anotada por Jose Rizal, y precedida de un
prologo del prof. Fernando Blumentn’tt (Events in the Philippine Islands by Dr. Antonio
de Morga. A work published in Mexico in the year 1609, reprinted and annotated by Jose
Rizal and preceded by an introduction by professor Ferdinand Blumentritt)” (Ocampo,
1998)
OVERVIEW OF MORGA’S SUCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS
The book is composed of 8 (eight) chapters and its contents are based on documentary research,
observation, and personal experience of Morga.
1. The first discoveries of the Eastern Islands.
2. The government of Dr.Francisco de Sande.
3. The government of Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peiialosa.
4. The government of Dr. Santiago de Vera.
5. The government of Gomez Perez Dasnarias
6. The government of Don Francisco Tello
7. The government of Don Pedro De Acuia
8. An account of the Philippine Island
The word “Sucessos de las Islas Filipinas” were derived from the Spanish word “sucesos” which means
events and synonymous with happenings and occurrence and “La Islas Filipinas” which means
Philippines. That was named in honor if King Philip II of Spain.
 MORGA’S POINT OF
VIEW
Antonio Morga discussed the state of the Philippines in the advent of Spaniards. His book focused
primarily on the following categories: geography, society, faith, and economy during the pre-colonial
era. For geography, location, climate, and plants species are among the things that are discussed in the
book and these particular categories are mentioned.
On Location
“Philippine geography was deserted and unhabitable. It has extends up to 12 degrees south latitude.”
On Climate
"Winters and summers are the opposite of those in Europe and the rainfall from June up to September
and summer from October and up to the end of May.”
On Plant Species
“The ginger which is eaten in raw, in vinegar are pickled, likewise much cachumba. The regular
delicacy offers throughput these islands and in other cuntries in the Asian mainland, is the buyo or
betel which is made out of leaf are all abundant.”
 Next is Society. Under that, we have body tattoos, indigenous people, women,
and the government.

On the tattoos
“The inhabitants, the native, also known as Visayans. A pattern is drawn by putting certain black
powder where the blood oozes out.”
On the Indigenous People
“The native living in the sun are tribes of whom one cannot be safe. To pacify them although it has
often been tried to do this by good or violent means.”
On Women
“Men and women are money-loving and covetous so that when there is a price, they easily..”
On Government
“There were neither king nor lords through them located on a different island, instead, they consider
principals among the natives.”
 Let’s proceed to Faith, under that, we have belief in crocodiles, healers, and
customs for the dead.

On Crocodiles
“The natives build on the border of the rivers and streams in their settlement where they.
On Healers
“Great sorcerers and wizards who deceived the people and communicated to them whatever they
wished, they believe in omens and superstitions so that they could tell whether their sick persons
would live or die.”
On Dead Bodies
“They buried their dead/s in their own houses, keeping their bodies and bones for a long time in the
process and venerating their skulls. In their funeral rights, neither pomp nor procession played any
part except those performed by members of the household of the dead. After seeing, they indulged in
eating and drinking to the degree of intoxication among themselves.”
 Lastly, the Economy of the Philippines depended on trading particularly the exploitation
of cotton, artifacts, and gold.

On Cotton
“Cotton is raised through the islands and they spin it to thread and sell it. They also weave
blankets in various ways which they also sell or plate.”
On Artifacts
“The natives of the island sell articles to the Japanese and as matter of fact, this basis had
become very source owing to a great demand there is for them.”
On Gold
“Throughout the islands are certain places where is an abundance of rich gold deposits and
other mineral products which are connected by the natives.”
RIZAL’S
ANNOTATIONS
Jose Rizal both agreed and disagreed with some of Morga’s statements in
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas and established his annotations which
provide optimistic commemoration of the Philippine pre-colonial past. It is
Ferdinand Blumentritt who encouraged Rizal to write about the
Philippines’ pre-colonial history.
The following were Rizal’s objectives in writing his version of Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas:
1. To awaken the consciousness of the Filipinos regarding their glorious
ways of the past
2. To correct what has been distorted about the Philippines due to Spanish
Dr. Jose Rizal conquest.
3. To prove that Filipinos were already civilized even before the coming of
Spaniards.
According to Rizal, the Philippines was not deserted and was habitable which contradicted what
Morga stated in his book in terms of Philippine geography. Morga also mentioned that Filipinos
love to eat food that was rotten and stinks already particularly fish meat. However, Rizal
disagreed and said that “Spaniards, like any other nation, treat food which they are not
accustomed or is unknown to the, with disgust.” This food, Morga was referring to, was a salted
and fermented fish otherwise known as “Bagoong” in Tagalog.
This only proves that the people of the Philippines have a culture of their own before the coming
of the Spaniards and that Filipinos were not inferior to white men. The sole purpose of his
annotations was to correct the distorted and negative connotations of the past and turn it into a
dignified and stately history of the Philippines.
THANK YOU ☺️