Readings in Philippine History
making a descriptive or analytical narrative.
Meaning of History
History
– derived from the Greek word “historia” which means
learning by inquiry
- systematic accounting of a set of natural phenomena,
taking into consideration the chronological arrangement
of the account (Aristotle)
- referred usually for accounts of phenomena, especially
human affairs in chronological order
- Knowledge is derived through conducting a process of
scientific investigation of past events
Theories in Investigating History
• Factual History
 presents readers the plain and basic
information regarding the events that
took place (what), the time and date
with which the events happened
(when), the place with which the event
took place (where), and the people that
were involved (who).
 facts, basic information
• Speculative History
 goes beyond facts because it is
concerned about the reasons for which
events happened (why), and the way
they happened (how).
 cause and effect of an event
History – study of past events
Historians – individuals who write about history.
“But whose past are we talking about?”. Seek to
understand the present by examining what went
before. They undertake a lot of researches to come
up with a meaningful and organized rebuilding of
the past. Historians set a purpose and framework of
a historical account
Salient feature of historical writing is the facility to
give meaning and impact value to a group of people
about their past.
Historiography – the practice of historical writing. the
traditional method in doing historical research that
focus on gathering of documents from different libraries
and archives to form a pool of evidence needed in
The modern historical writing does not only include
examination of documents but also the use of research
methods from related areas of study such as archeology
and geography.
Limitation of Historical Knowledge
• incompleteness of records
• most human affairs happen without leaving any
evidence or records of any kind
• The whole history of the past (called history-as-
actuality) can be known to a historian only
through the surviving records (history-as-
record), and most history-as-record is only a
tiny part of the whole phenomenon.
History as the Subjective Process of Re-creation
• From the incomplete evidence, historians strive
to restore the total past of mankind.
• Historians’ aim is to verisimilitude (the truth,
authenticity, plausibility) about a past.
Historical Method and Historiography
• Historical Method – process of critically
examining and analyzing the records and
survivals of the past.
• Historiography – the imaginative reconstruction
of the past from the data derived by that
(historical method) process
Historical Analysis
- Important element of historical method
Historians:
1. Select the subject to investigate;
2. Collect probable sources of information on the
subject;
3. Examine the sources genuineness, in part or in
whole;
4. Extract credible “particulars” from the sources
(or parts of sources).
SOURCES OF HISTORICAL DATA
- These are the materials from which the
historians construct meaning.
- These sources provide evidence about the
existence of an event
Historical Data
- sourced from artifacts that have been left by
the past.
Artifacts:
- relics or remains
- testimonies of witnesses
Written Sources of History
1. Narrative or literary
2. Diplomatic or judicial
3. Social documents
1. Narrative or literary
- Chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form,
written to impart a message whose motives for
their composition vary widely.
- Ex: newspaper article, ego-document or
personal narrative (diary), novel or film,
biography, etc.
- Newspaper articles (might be intended to shape
opinion)
- Diary (composed in order to persuade readers
of the justice of the author’s actions)
- Novel or film (might be made to entertain, to
deliver a moral teaching
- Biography (might be written in praise of the
subject’s worth, and achievements)
2. Diplomatic sources
- document/record of an existing legal situation
- Published by a government entity, an
independent organization, or an individual
3. Social documents
- Information pertaining to economic, social,
political or judicial significance.
- kept by bureaucracies
- Ex. Government reports (municipal account,
research findings, civil registry records, property
registers, and records of census)
Non-written Sources of History
1. Material evidence
2. Oral evidence
1. Material Evidence
- also known as archaeological evidence
- Includes artistic creations: pottery, jewelry,
houses, graves, churches, roads, and others
- tells about the ways of life of people in the past,
and their culture
2. Oral Evidence
- tales and sagas of ancient people
- folk songs or popular rituals
- Interviews (major form of oral evidence at
present)
PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY SOURCES
Kinds of Historical Sources:
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources
Primary Sources, original, first-hand account of an
event or period that are usually written or made
during or close to the event.
- original and factual, not interpretative
- Key function is to provide facts
- Ex: diaries, journals, letters, newspaper and
magazine articles, posters, recorded or
transcribed speeches, interviews, songs, plays,
novels, paintings, drawings, sculptures.
Secondary Sources
- materials made by people long after the events
being described had taken place to provide
valuable interpretations of historical events
- Analyzes and interprets primary sources
- Ex: biographies, histories, literary criticism,
books written by a third party, art and theater
reviews
FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD
THE DIVISION OF THE WORLD
• Portugal was the first country to sail to the East
and establish colonies
• Spain, which sent explorers to the Americas,
began to lay claim to these areas
• A sea rivalry resulted from the “discoveries”
made by Spain and Portugal.
• earned her the prestige as the first sew power
to chart an alternate passage to India
Treaty of Tordesillas
• Church’s solution to the endless competition
between the two countries.
• Concluded on June 7, 1494, the kings of
Portugal and Spain, with Pope Alexander VI’s
blessing signed an agreement that divides the
world between the two countries.
• An imaginary line was drawn from north to
south at a distance of 370 leagues west of the
Cape Verde Islands. (East – Portugal, West –
Spain)
 • If Spanish ships discovered lands east of the
demarcation line, the said lands should be
turned over to Portugal, and lands discovered
by Portuguese ships west of the line should be
turned over to Spain.
• No Portuguese ships shall be sent to lands
belonging to Spain, and vice versa, for the
purpose of trading with them.
The important provisions of this treaty were the
following:
- Lands to be discovered east of this line
would belong to Portugal, and those on
the west would belong to Spain;
GOALS OF EXPLORATION AND CONQUEST
1. To spread Christianity
2. Find the Spice Island (Moluccas)
3. The discovery of new lands would add prestige
to their kingdom
The Magellan Expedition
Ferdinand Magellan
• Portuguese who went to Spain to offer his
services to the Spanish King (King Charles I)
• With the help of visual aids like maps and
illustrations, explained to the young King that
he could reach the Moluccas, and then known
as the Spice Islands, by sailing west
• Rediscovered Philippines (named it Archipelago
of St. Lazarus)
• Introduced Christianity in the Philippines
• who sailed, under Spain, to reach Moluccas
without crossing Portuguese territory
• when he reached the islands
of Homonhon in Samar on the feast day of Saint
Lazarus of Bethany
Preparation: The Fleet
• 5 ships:
– Santiago (under Juan Rodriguez
Serrano)
– San Antonio (under Juan de Cartageña)
– Concepcion (under Gaspar de Quesada)
– Trinidad (flagship) under Ferdinand
Magellan
– Victoria (under Louis de Mendoza)
Preparation: Crew
• Approximately 200 men (Portuguese, Spanish,
Italians, Germans, Flemish, Greeks, English, and
French)
• Spanish authorities were wary of Magellan
• Antonio Pigafetta had asked to be on the
voyage becoming a strict assistant of Magellan
and keeping an accurate journal.
• They almost prevented him from sailing,
switching from mostly Portuguese crew to
mostly men of Spain
• The only other sailor to report the voyage
would be Francisco Albo, who kept a formal
logbook
Magellan Expedition
• September 20, 1519, the Magellan expedition
left port and sailed southward across the
Atlantic.
Arrival in the Philippines
• March 16, 1521
- sighted Zamal
- Reached the island of Homonhon in the
Philippines (first meeting with the Filipinos)
• March 31, 1521
– First catholic mass in Limasawa (ruled
by Rajah Kulambu)
– This event marked the coming of the
first Spaniards in the Philippines.
– sealed their friendship with a blood
compact
– Magellan ordered that a large cross be
planted on the top of a hill overlooking
the sea.
• April 7, 1521
– Arrival in Zzubu
– Rajah Humabon welcomed the
Spaniards and soon a blood compact
ensued between him and Magellan.
– The Cebu chieftain, Rajah Humabon,
• April 15, 1521
- conversion of 800 natives with Humabon,
his wife and daughter to Christianity
- Establishment of Magellan’s Cross
- Rajah Humabon - given the Christian name
Carlos in honor of the King Charles of Spain,
and his wife (Humamai), who was given the
name Juana.
- Magellan presented Juana an image of the
Infant Jesus
- a Mass was celebrated in Cebu
- Magellan persuaded the Cebuanos to
become Christians
 • April 27, 1521
- In war with Lapu-lapu, chief of Mactan and
Humabon’s enemy
- Lapu-lapu, who refused to listen to
Magellan’s demand that he pay tribute to
Spain, prepared to fight to end.
- Magellan was killed during the fight.
- Two ships remained: the Victoria and the
Trinidad (captured by the Portuguese).
- With the death of Magellan, the Spaniards
fled to their ships and left.
Return and Legacy
• Circumnavigation was completed by one ship,
the Victoria, under the command of Juan
Sebastian Elcano and a crew of 18 men
• Antonio Pigafetta’s journal
• Francisco Albo – other direct report of the
voyage, last Victoria’s pilot, who kept a formal
logbook
Significance
• It was possible to sail around the world
• Europeans learned the existence of the
Philippines
• Earth is round
• He had professional scientists on the trip to
help determine the species of some of the
animals he found on his voyage.
• Paved the way for Spanish colonization, and
Christianization of the Philippines
• Paved the way for contacts between the
Philippines and Western civilization
• Spain became the supreme power in the
building of a colonial empire
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
• written by Juan de Plasencia – a Franciscan
missionary in the Tagalog region since 1578
until 1590
• narrative on the established culture of the
Tagalogs in Luzon
• answer to the request of the monarchy in Spain
which was to provide pieces of information
about the government, administration of
justice, inheritances, slaves, dowries, worship,
burials, and superstition of the “Indians” in the
colony
• to rectify previous reports about the people’s
way of life in the region
• Plasencia wrote:
“This people always had chiefs, called by them
datos/datus, who governed them and were
captains in their wars, and whom they obeyed
and reverenced.”
• The subject who committed any offense against
them, or spoke but a word to their wives and
children, was severely punished.
• These chiefs ruled over a few people
(sometimes 100 houses, sometimes less than
30). Are datus monogamous or polygamous?
Barangay
• tribal gathering
• a family of parents and children, relatives, and
slaves
• came from the Malay word balangay, meaning
boat.
• Nobles – occupied the highest class
• Freemen - Who had enough land for their
livelihood or who rendered special service to
the rulers. Need not to work on the fields
Nobles/Maharlicas
• members of the nobility were addressed with
the title Gat or Lakan among the Tagalogs
• maharlica father + mother maharlica =
maharlica children
• What if a maharlika had a child with a slave?
What would happen? What would be the status
of that child?
• Maharlika father does not recognize the child as
his own, the child is (wholly) a slave.
• If a maharlika/free woman had a child with a
slave, they are all free, provided he is not her
husband.
Social Life
 Dependents / Oripen
(1) aliping namamahay – had their own
houses, which was usually built on the
property of their masters
- served his master during planting and
harvest season
(2) aliping sagigilid (saguiguilid) - Had no
property of his own, could not marry
without the master’s consent.
 Sagigilid – full pledge slaves. Homeless.
Required to stay in their master’s house. Can be
used as a payment for debt.
Marriage of a Maharlica and a Slave
• The children were divided:
(1) the first, whether male or female,
belonged to the father, as did the
third and fifth…
(2) … the second, fourth, and sixth fell
to the mother, and so on...
(3) One child = half maharlica, half
slave
*Kung unsay status sa father, maoy status sa bata. Same
goes for the mother.*
Slavery
• They condemned no one to slavery, unless he
merited the death-penalty
• As for witches, they killed them, and their
children and accomplices became slaves of the
chief
• All other offenses were punished by fines in
gold
• Which, if not paid with promptness, the
exposed culprit should serve until the payment
should be made to the person aggrieved.
• This was done in the following way: Half the
cultivated lands and all their produce belonged
to the master.
• The master provide them with clothing and
food thus enslaving the culprit and his children
until such time as he might get enough money
to pay the fine.
• If the father, for example, paid his debt, the
master then will claim that he had fed and
clothed his children, and he should pay for that.
– UTANG NA LOOB (You will always repay those
who fed and clothed you)
• What if the father dies? Who will pay his debt?
The children. Namatay man ang father, meaning
wa niya nabayran ang debt, ma-double ang
amount nga bayaran sa iyang mga anak –
Consequence sa wala pagbayad. – according to
Plasencia, this system should and can be
reformed.
Marriage customs
• courtship usually begins with paninilbihan
• if the man wins the trust of the parents, he does
not immediately marry the woman, but he has
to satisfy several conditions:
- give a dowry or bigay-kaya
- parents of the groom must pay the
panghihimuyat
- Himaraw is another payment payable in
gold or in land
- Including the bride’s wet nurse received
a share of dowry; it was called “bigay-
suso”
• once he had settled all of the above
requirements, he brings his parents to meet
with the bride-to-be’s parents to bargain and
make the final arrangements; this is called
pamamalae or pamamanhikan or
pamumulungan
• Dowry - the act of offering something valuable
to the bride's family by the groom. It could be
jewelry, cash, land, or other valuable items.
• Panghihimuyat - the groom’s parents must give
a certain amount of money to the bride-to-be's
parents as payment for the mother's efforts in
rearing the girl to womanhood.
• Himaraw- a compensation for the mother for all
the sleepless nights she had while the bride was
still an infant.
• weddings are officiated by the babaylan
• uncooked rice is thrown on the couple after the
wedding ceremony
• Dowry – given by the man to the woman’s
parents – if they are still alive, they will enjoy
the use of it. Because unmarried women could
not own any property, in land or dowry.
• If they die, and the dowry was not used or
consumed? Who will have it? It would be
divided to their children, except in case the
 father would give something additional to the
daughter.
• What if the bride is an orphan? No parents, no
grandparents. What will happen? Asa man
mahatag ang dowry? She enjoys the dowry –
but after marriage na.
• As to the officiating person, the most preferred
in pre-colonial and colonial times was
the babaylan (an indigenous Filipino religious
leader, who functions as a healer, a shaman, a
seer and a community "miracle-
worker" ) because of the belief in his
supernatural abilities and his dominant position
in the community. In the absence of the
babaylan who may also be the datu, a respected
elderly may be asked to officiate. The witnesses,
on the other hand, were usually the elder
members of the family and of the community.
Religious beliefs
• No temples consecrated to the performing of
sacrifices, adoration of their idols, or the
general practice of idolatry
• Simbahan
– a temple or place of adoration
- they wished to celebrate a festival (pandot)
or worship
- roof (sibi)
- Posts of the house they set small lamps
called sorihile
- Center (one large lamp, adorned with
leaves of the white palm, wrought into
many designs)
- Brought together many drums, large and
small
- Worship (nagaanitos)
• Badhala
– supreme being
- signifies “all powerful” or “maker of all
things”
• They celebrated in the large house of a chief.
• Nagtikadaghan ang mu-worship, di na maigo sa
house sa chief so they constructed a
temple/simbahan to shelter the assembled
people
• Sibi – to protect the people from the wet when
it rained
• Big house – to accommodate all people and
divided it into three compartments
Time
• No established division of years, months, and
days
• Determined by cultivation of soil
• Counted by moons
• The different effect produced upon the trees
when yielding flowers, fruits, and leaves
• Sun-time, water-time
Sacrifice
• Proclaim a feast, and offer to the devil what
they had to eat
• This was done in front of their idol which they
anoint with fragrant perfumes
• Praise it in poetic songs sung by the officiating
priest (catolonan)
• The objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls, and
swine, which were flayed and decapitated, and
laid before their idol
• Offer to the devil – para di sila samukon sa evil
spirits. Di hilabtan
• The participants made responses to the songs
• The devil was sometimes liable to enter the
body of the catolonan – tied to a tree by his
companions – this happened but rarely
Monthly period
• Girls had their eyes blindfolded for four days
and four nights
• At the end of this period, the catolonan took
the young girl to the water, bathed her and
washed her head, and removed the bandage
from her eyes
• And in the meantime, the friends and relatives
were all invited to partake of food and drink
• The old men said that they did this in order that
the girls might bear children, and have fortune
in finding husbands to their taste, who would
not leave them widows in their youth
Burial
• The deceased was buried beside his house
• Chief was placed beneath a little house or porch
which they constructed for this purpose
• Before burying him, they mourned for four
days; afterward laid him on a boat, placing him
beneath the porch
• Maca
– “paradise” or “village of rest”
 - just and valiant people, and those who lived
without doing harm
• Casanaan
- place of punishment, grief, and affliction
- place of anguish
- wicked people, demons (sitan)
• Vibit – ghosts
SPOLIARIUM, 19th Century
• Tigbalaang – phantoms
• Patianac – if any woman died in childbirth, she
and the child suffered punishment, and at night
she could be heard lamenting
• Boat served as a coffin
• A guard was kept over him by a slave
• Heaven – No one would go to heaven, only
bathala – the maker of all things
• Maca – place for people who possessed moral
virtues
• Bibit – ghost/spirit. This is actually a deity’s
name. When somebody is sick, they make
offerings of food to this deity, because
according to the priestess, the deity had to be
cured first for the patient to recover.
WORKS OF JUAN LUNA
AND FERNANDO AMORSOLO
Juan Luna
• Best known for impressive rendition of classical
subjects in his academic works
• historical scenes, and portraiture
• Works turned to realism depicting social
inequalities
• Don Lorenzo Guerrero – first painting tutor
• Left for Barcelona in 1877, with his elder
brother
• Luna returned to Manila in time for the
outbreak of Revolution against Spain
• Theme – drama, tragedy, very dark and heavy
• Don Lorenzo Guerero – easily recognized the
young man’s natural talent and persuaded his
parents to send him to Spain for advanced
painting lessons.
• Unfortunately, on September 16, 1896, he and
his brother were arrested by the Spanish
authorities and accused of organizing a
revolution together with the Katipunan Secret
Society.
• He was pardoned by the Spanish monarchy on
May 27, 1897 and released from prison, he
immediately went to Europe.
• His sentiments for the Philippines and the
Filipinos made him decide to travel back to the
Philippines in December 1899. However, he
suffered a severe heart attack and died on
December 7, 1899.
• A painting he entered in the Exposicion General
de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, where it won
a gold medal. It currently hangs in the main
gallery at the ground floor of the National
Museum of the Philippines. This is the most
valuable oil-on-canvass painting with a size of
4.22 x 7.675 meters, making it the largest
painting in the Philippines.
• Spoliarium – basement of Roman Coliseum
• Romans – symbolized the Spaniards
• Gladiators and wild beasts – the Filipinos
• The Spaniards manipulate everything, letting
the Filipinos fight against each other
(traydoray). The Filipinos’ suffering is their
delight.
• Woman crying at the corner – Filipino families
mourning for the death of their loved ones who
sacrificed their lives for the country.
• Almost naked gladiators – the Spaniards took
most of the possessions of the Filipinos.
Tanggalan silag armors, shield, weapons so that
they would not be able to defend themselves.
• Gladiators being dragged into the darkness-
these are the people who sacrificed their lives
for the cause of the majority but these people
are being taken for granted. They will eventually
be forgotten. After nila nagsacrifice, kalimtan
dayon.
• Man with a light, looking for his son. Searching
for answers, why this had to happen.
 • Spent 8 months to complete this painting. • At present, like the lady, the people of the
Philippines are still waiting for our politicians to
finish their saliva forum and begin their job of
THE PARISIAN LIFE, 1892
nation building.
• Coat and hat – symbolizes western lifestyle
• Beer- how the spaniards took advantage of our
country
• Newspaper – inspired by French Revolution
• Kawit, Cavite – womb (birth of Philippine
Independence)
• Cebu – knees (site of the first Christianization in
the Philippines)
Fernando Amorsolo

• Delights people of his impressionistic technique

depicting peaceful country scenes, beautiful
maidens, and colorfully dressed peasants
planting or harvesting rice.
• Paintings are significant in the development of
formation of Filipino notions of self and
identity.
• This was probably the last work of Juan Luna • During this period, Amorsolo developed the use
considering that he traveled more often than of light – actually backlight – which is his
painting landscapes. greatest contribution to Philippine painting.
• On October 27, 2002 - the GSIS purchased Juan • Amorsolo, who died in 1972, is said to have
Luna’s Parisian Life painting at an auction in more than 10, 000 pieces. He continued to paint
Hong Kong even in his late 70s despite his arthritis in his
• Unidentified Parisian Lady, and Filipino heroes hand.
Dr. Jose Rizal, Juan Luna, Dr. Ariston Bautista • He hated sad and gloomy paintings.
• Maria de la Paz Pardo de Tavera – wife of Juan
Luna, a sister of his friend Felix and Trinidad
Pardo de Tavera ANTIPOLO FIESTA, 1947
• Andres – son of Juan and Maria
• Luna was fond of painting his wife, frequently
accused her of having an affair with a certain
Monsieur Dussaq.
• On September 23, 1892, the jealous Luna, killed
his wife and mother-in-law, and wounded his
brother-in-law, Felix. He was arrested and
murder charges were filed against him.
February 8, 1893, he was acquitted of charges
on grounds of temporary insanity; the
“unwritten law” at the time forgave men for
killing unfaithful wives. He was ordered to pay
the Pardo de Taveras a sum of one thousand six
hundred fifty one francs and eighty three cents,
and an additional twenty five francs for
postage, in addition to the interest of damages.
• We can say that the woman is the Philippines
waiting for the politicians to finish their • Fiesta is part of every Filipino culture which is
celebrated every year.
discussions so an action can be decided and
begin working for their country.
PALAY MAIDEN, 1920

• Ideal filipino beauty – rounded face, not of the

oval type… the eyes should be exceptionally
lively… the nose should be of blunt form but
firm and strongly marked… should have a
sensuous mouth… not white-complexioned nor
dark brown color, but a clear skin which we
often witness when we meet a blushing girl.
• The Filipino beauty is an important symbol of
national identity.
• Colors of the Philippines – blue kerchief, red
skirt, white blouse, yellow palay.
• The subject gazes at the viewer, holding a
generous bundle of newly harvested rice, a
hope-filled moment for the Philippines.