CHAPTER 1

Background of the
Philippine History
Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

 determine the meaning, importance and relevance of history

 evaluate primary sources of their credibility, authenticity and provenance
 differentiate internal and external criticism; and
 describe the repositories of primary resources

History: Its Meaning, Importance and Relevance

Meaning of history

The word history is derived from the Greek term ―historia‖ which means ―inquiry of
research‖. Thus the term history refers to accounts or inquiries of events that happened in the
past and are narrated in a chronological order.

According to Aristotle, regarded as the father of logic, history is a systematic account of a

set of natural phenomena which are arranged in their chronological order. The great historians
Thucydides and Herodotus (father of history) defined history as learning inquiry about the past
of mankind. E. H. Carr likewise defines history as a never-ending dialogue of events between the
past and the present. Will Durant stated that history is a narrative events of what civilized men
have thought and done in the past. in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, the theme of history should
be that of man's growth from barbarism of civilization.

Importance of history

It is said that history is to the human race whereas memory is to each man. it does not
only said the light of the past upon the present time. It also:

1. helps every person to draw conclusion from the past events helping the person
to understand himself by being acquainted with other people.
2. helps the person or the government avoid the pitfalls of the present by knowing the rise
and fall of the rulers, government and empires.
3. makes a person's life richer and fuller by giving meaning to the books he reads
(especially history books, the cities and metropolis he visits and cultural performance he
hears and listens to)
4. broaden the person's outlook in life by learning and understanding the various races,
cultures, idiosyncrasies, habits, rituals, ceremonies, etc. of making of contemporary
society out of the diverse forces of the past
5. enable the person to grasp his relationship with the past, such as to who ordered the
killing of Ninoy Aquino or why china insist on occupying territories claimed by the
Philippines - and because of the events, one has to turn to history for a complete answer.
6. help social and political scientist or researchers engage in research as for example a
political researcher doing a research on federal form of government has to draw his data
and the materials of history and finally,
7. history of reserves the cultural values of a nation because it guards society in confronting
various crisis. As Allen Narins puts it, history is like a bridge that connects the past with
the present and "pointing the road to the future".

Relevance of studying Philippine history

Some students enrolled in Philippine history subject often as the question: what is the use
of relevance of studying Philippine history? it is just an additional payment for an additional 3
unit core subject. Why are we concerned about what happened a long time ago? The answer to
their unending questions is that "history is inescapable," according to Penelope J. Carfield. The
saying "all people are living histories - which is why history matters" is true in this case. It is not
a "dead" subject, as some believe. history connects things through time and the students are
encouraged to take long view of such connections.an example is the legacies of the past is
connected to the present so as to determine what comes in the future.

To understand the linkage between the past and the present is to have a better group of
the condition of being human. All human beings are living histories. For example, the human
species speak languages that are inherited from the past. They use technologies that they have
not themselves invested. Thus, an individual is born of an inherited "genetic template" which has
evolved during his life span. Thus, the study of the Philippine history is not only relevant, it is
useful and essential.

Understanding Philippine history is essential to a good understanding of the condition of

being human. People build, people destroy, and people change. Neither of these options can be
understood well without understanding the context and starting point of all these. All human beings
live in ―Here‖ and ―Now”, but it took a long unfolding history to get enough to ―NOW”.

Distinction between primary and secondary sources

Primary sources - are direct first hand evidences regarding an object, person or work of
art. they include storical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, results, experiments,
statistical data, pieces of creative writing, audio, video recordings, speeches and art objects. they
also include interviews, surveys, field work, and internet communications via email, blogs,
listservs, and newsgroups. in the most natural and social sciences, primary sources are often
empirical studies - research where experiment was performed or a direct observation was done.
The results of such empirical studies are found in some scholarly articles or papers delivered at
conferences.
Secondary sources on the other hand describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze,
evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. secondary sources materials are those that
can be found in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles written in
scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research.

A comparative analysis of primary and secondary sources in a table for month is shown.

Primary sources are the raw materials of historical Secondary sources are analysis or a restatement of
research - they are the documents or artifacts primary sources. They often describe or explain
closest to the topic of investigation. often, they are primary sources. Some secondary sources not only
created during the time period which is being analyze primary sources, but also use them to argue
studied (correspondence, diaries, newspapers, or persuade the reader to hold a certain opinion.
government documents, arts) but they can also be Secondary sources are not evidence, but a
produced later by eyewitnesses or participants commentary on end discussion of evidence.
(memoirs, oral histories). You may find primary
sources in their original format (usually in an example include:
archive) or reproduce in a variety of ways; books,
microfilm, digital, etc. bibliographies
biographical works
examples include: commentaries, criticisms
dictionaries, encyclopedia
Artifacts (e.g. coins, plant specimens, fossils, histories
Furniture, tools, clothing, all from the time under journal articles
study) magazines and newspaper articles
Audio recordings (e.g. radio programs, oral monographs, other than fiction and autobiography
histories) textbooks
Diaries websites
Internet communications on email.
Interviews (e.g. oral histories, telephone, e-mail)
Journal articles published in peer-reviewed
publications
Letters
Newspaper articles written at the time original
documents (i.e. birth certificate, will, marriage
license, trial transcript) Patents

Photographs
Proceedings of meetings, conferences and
symposia
Records of organizations, government agencies
(e.g. annual report, treaty, constitution, government
document)
Speeches
Survey research (e.g. market surveys, public
opinion polls)
Video recordings (e.g. television programs)
Work of art, architecture, literature and music (e.g.
paintings, sculptures, musical scores, buildings,
novels, poems, websites)
The difference between internal and external criticisms

With respect to internal criticism, these seek to falsify or demonstrate its discontinuity
with an idea by hypothetical assuming its truth in order to prove some internal inconsistency or
contradiction with it. external criticisms, in contrast, seek to falsify an idea without
hypothetically assuming its truth.

Dr. Lynn Sims, history professor of John Tyler community college noted two ways of
applying a set of data. According to her, internal criticism looks within the data itself to try to
determine - facts and "reasonable" interpretation. it includes looking at the apparent or possible
motives of the person providing the data whereas, external criticism applies "science to a
document. ―it involves such physical and technical test as dating of paper a document is written
on, but it also involves a knowledge of when certain things existed or were possible, e.g. when
zip codes are invented. External criticism and the application of both forms of critique often
require research. Part of research can be oral history.

Understanding the difference between an internal and external criticism is of vital

importance for all people since falling to do this may lead into unfocused conversations where
topic of investigation is never sufficiently address due to the ever-elusive objective. it is
important therefore to focus a conversation by an identifying what type of objection you have or
else are confronted with and, as a result, you will be in a better position for having more fruitful
conversations with those whom you may disagree with.

Repositories of primary sources

The main task of preserving and making the primary source of information on Philippine
history accessible to the public lice on the National Archives of Philippines. The documents,
records and other primary sources are basic components of cultural heritage and collective
memory - the embodiment of community identifies as well as testaments to shared national
experiences. presently, it is the home of about 60 million documents from the centuries of
Spanish rule in the Philippines, the American and Japanese occupations, as well as the years of
the Republic.

The Archiver is created by Republic Act 9470 on May 21, 2017. This new law
strengthened the record keeping systems and administration program for archival materials as it
is the final repository for the voluminous notarized documents in the country.

Other local repositories of primary sources could be found in museums of provinces, cities and
municipalities in the locality

For Republic Acts and other legislative enactment or statutes, the repositories are the Official
Gazette published by the National Printing Office.

For Supreme Court decisions, the repositories of the SC decisions are the Philippine reports,
citation of books, treatises, pleadings and even court decision are found in the Supreme Court
Reports Annotated (SCRA)
Name : John Paul Quitaneg Score :
Date : September 25, 2020 Time : 10:30-12:00NN

I. Words to Know
Define the following terms based on your point of view (not exactly copied from the text)

1. History – is the study of the past, events occurring before the invention of writing
systems

2. Primary Sources – are immediate, first-hand accounts of a topic, from people who had
a direct connection with it can include. Texts of laws and other original documents.
Newspaper reports, by reporters who witnessed an event or who quote people who
did.
3. Secondary Sources – were created by someone who did not experience first-hand
or participate in the events or conditions you're researching. For a historical
research project, secondary sources are generally scholarly books and articles. A
secondary source interprets and analyzes primary sources.

4. Internal Criticisms – aka positive criticism is the attempt of the researcher to restore
the meaning of the text. This is the phase of hermeneutics in which the researcher
engages with the meaning of the text rather than the external elements of the
document.

5. External Criticisms – is a process by which historians determine whether a source

is authentic by checking the validity of the source. Internal criticism looks at the
reliability of an authenticated source after it has been subjected to external criticism.

6. Archives – a collection of historical documents or records providing information

about a place, institution, or group of people.

7. Repositories – a place or container in which things can be stored for safety.

II. Brush Up
1. Differentiate the following terms give example to support your answer?
a. Primary sources vs. secondary sources
Primary sources provide a first-hand account of an event or time period and are
considered to be authoritative. They represent original thinking, reports on
discoveries or events, or they can share new information. While Secondary sources
involve analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or evaluation of primary sources.

b. Archives vs. Museums- An archive is a collection of historical records as well as the

place they are located while Museum is a building or institution that cares for
the collection of artifacts and other object s of scientific, artistic or historical
importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits.

c. Internal criticism vs. external criticism- External criticism is a process by which

historians determine whether a source is authentic by checking the validity of the
source. Internal criticism looks at the reliability of an authenticated source after it
has been subjected to external criticism.

2. Why do we need to understand the difference between internal and external criticism?
To know the authenticity of the evidence is determined by external criticism, whereas
credibility is established by internal criticism.

3. What are the ways at looking in a set of data? How significant are these sets of data
in history?
These are the ways at looking in a set of data first personal data, data in a news,
transactional data, web data, etc. Sets of data are significant in history to maintain
the integrity.
4. Give an example on how internal and external criticisms can be applied in the study
of Philippine history?
For example, I may have read the letters of Marcelo H. del Pilar or Apolinario Mabini, but a
good secondary source will give contextualization to each of the events described in the
letters based on other sources.

5. Cite some other primary and secondary sources not found in this learning material.
a. Other primary sources
Primary sources present original thinking, reports on discoveries, or share
new information.

b. Other secondary sources

Secondary sources often lack the freshness and immediacy of the
original material.
6. Do you consider electronics or digitized sources as primary sources? Support
your answers.
Yes, because now a days we are using digitized to access materials on line.
7. What is meant by saying that ―History matters‖? Explain well.
History matters meant that if there’s no history no one can know who we are
and what we are. And everything this world no one can know.
8. Is history a ―dead‖ subject? Support your answer
No, because without history all things in this world in nothing at all.
III. React to the Statement
1. History is inescapable.
Yes, because it connects things through time and encourages its students to take a long
view of such connections.

2. All people are living histories.

Yes, people are living histories. To take a few obvious examples: communities
speak languages that are inherited from the past. They live in societies with complex
cultures, traditions and religions that have not been created on the spur of
the moment
3. History is not only useful, it is also essential.
It is not just 'useful', it is essential. In fact, all people have a full historical context.

4. History is to the human race whereas memory is to each man.

As individuals do not belong only to one group but are involved in multiple social
relationships, the individual differences in each memory express the results of each
person’s trajectory throughout their lives. Individual memory only reveals the complexities
of the social interrelations experienced by each person.

IV. Sharpen your mind

1. Get or produced the following data and information. print and place them on a
folder for submission to your instructor.
a) history of your school/college/university
b) history of your city/municipality
c) Republic Act No. 9470 document creating the National Archives of the Philippines
d) Archives and museum in your region. list the following information
1) name of the archives and the museums
2) location
3) mission, vision and objectives
4) name of officers and their respective positions
5) primary sources and secondary sources kept or displayed in the archives/museums
6) photo of archives/museums if available

2. List the historical/cultural organizations in your region (where your school is located)
and indicate the following information in print:
a) name of the historical/cultural organization/s and year
b) name of officers and their respective position
c) vision, mission and objectives
d) past achievements
e) recent progress/projects
f) problems encountered
g) photo/picture of the officers in group
Submit this document together those in number one above to your instructor.

3. Why is Herodotus considered as the "father of history"? Describe is life, works

and achievements. Then post his photo inside the box.

a. his life achievements:

Herodotus has been called the ―father of history.‖ An engaging narrator with a deep
interest in the customs of the people he described, he remains the leading source of
original historical information not only for Greece between 550 and 479 BCE but also for
much of western Asia and Egypt at that time. Regarded as the first true
historian, Herodotus' Histories are the first great prose work in European literature. His
main theme was the struggle of Greece against the mighty Persian Empire in the Persian
Wars, but he also provides an insight into the contemporary Mediterranean world.

b. his life works and photo:

Herodotus wrote only one book, known today as the Histories. The Greek word that
forms its title, historiai, from which our word ―history‖ derives, means inquiries—and
so a more accurate title might be the Inquiries of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The first
great work of literary prose to be written outside of the Biblical tradition, the Histories is
not only the forerunner of all discursive writing in the Western canon, but it is also the
most complete surviving document of Pre-Socratic thought, the writings of the other Pre-
Socratic thinkers being fragmentary
Herodotus
Reflection
Figure

Direction: Indicate the things you have learned in this lesson (knowledge),
the things you have realized and appreciated (values), and the
things you have discovered and wanted to do more (skills). Place
these things inside the circular, rectangular and triangular boxes
which look like a human figure

I have learned so much Things I have learned

about this topic where (Knowledge)
about the importance of
history now a days .

Things I have realized and

discovered that theirs so many Things I have realized
ways to know the process and and
method to knowing the history. discovered
(Values)

That history Things I have discovered

can preserve by and wanted more
means of (Skills)
writing,
picture, and
digitization.