07.

1 Historical Interpretation and

Multiperspectivity
Making Sense of the Past:
Historical Interpretation
History, in a more contemporary definition, is centered on how it impacts the present
through its consequences. According to Geoffrey Barraclough, history is as the “attempt
to discover on the basis of fragmentary evidence, the significant things about the past”.
He also notes that history which is based on facts is a series of accepted judgments.
Historians utilized facts collected from primary sources to draw their own reading which
intended for the audience to understand the historical event, a process that in essence,
“makes sense of the past”. To concretize it further, The Code of Kalantiaw, a mythical
legal code in the epic history Maragtas, was revealed as a hoax in 1986 but still, some
would like to believe that the code is a legitimate document. Also, the “Sa Aking Mga
Kababata” which purportedly written by Jose Rizal, when he was 8 years of age. As a
matter of fact, there exists no manuscript of the poem handwritten by Rizal. Also, he
never mentioned writing this poem anywhere in his writings.
Furthermore, criticism of the poem reveals more about the wrongful attribution of the
poem to Rizal such as the poem was written in Tagalog and referred the word “kalayaan”
which he referred as well in “El Amor Patrio” where it was spelled as ‘kalayahan”. The
poem’s spelling is also suspects the use of letters “k” and “w” to replace “c” and “u”
respectively. Interpretations of the past, therefore, vary according to who reads the
primary source, when it was read and how it was read Interpretations of historical event
change overtime; thus, it is an important skill to track changes in an attempt to
understand the past. This entails that the things we accept as “true” about the past might
not be the case anymore. And so, historians must ensure the relevance of the events
happened in the past.

Multiperspectivity
Another important concept of history is multiperpectivity. Multiperspectivity is a way of
looking at historical events, personalities, developments, cultures, and societies from
different perspectives. This means that there is a multitude ways which we can view the
world that is equally valid and equally partial as well. Historical writing is biased, partial,
and contains preconceptions. So, historians decide on what sources to use, what
interpretation to make more apparent, depending on what his end is.
With multiperspectivity as an approach in history, historical interpretations contain
discrepancies, contradictions, ambiguities and are often the focus of dissent. Exploring
multiperspectives in history requires incorporating varied source materials that may
create space for more investigation and research, while providing more evidence for
those truths that these sources agree on. Different kinds of sources also provide
different historical truths which renders more validity to the historical scholarship and
also a more complete and richer understanding of the past.

07.2 Site of the First Mass in the

Philippines

500 years of Christianity in the Philippines

The first Mass and the first baptism are the two major historical ecclesiastical events that
are given focus in the quincentennial celebrations sanctioned by the CBCP and the
Archdiocese of Cebu.
Cebu is identified as the site of the first baptism with Rajah Humabon, Queen Juana and
hundreds of their community members being the first converts, according to the
accounts of Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of the Magellan-Elcano expedition.
The first baptism was on April 14, 1521.Links to an external site.
According to Pigafetta, the first Mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521, an Easter
Sunday. Pigafetta referred to the venue as “Mazaua.”
Some say that the venue is the island of Limasawa in Leyte. Others, however, claim that
Pigafetta was referring to Masao the community at the mouth of Agusan River adjacent
to what is now the city of Butuan.
Nearing 500 years since the first Mass, debates continue whether it was held on
Limasawa Island, in Agusan or somewhere else.
“As far as our history books, the first Mass is in Limasawa. But there are other places that
are claiming that the first Mass was held in their locality. The historical commission
somehow opens the discussion among experts and historians,” Mejia said.
Please read: The First Catholic Mass

08.1 Cavite Mutiny and

Secularization Movement
Cavite Mutiny
Cavite Mutiny, (January 20, 1872), brief uprising of 200 Filipino troops and workers at
the Cavite arsenal, which became the excuse for Spanish repression of the embryonic
Philippine nationalist movement. Ironically, the harsh reaction of the Spanish authorities
served ultimately to promote the nationalist cause.
The mutiny was quickly crushed, but the Spanish regime under the reactionary governor
Rafael de Izquierdo magnified the incident and used it as an excuse to clamp down on
those Filipinos who had been calling for governmental reform. A number of Filipino
intellectuals were seized and accused of complicity with the mutineers. After a brief trial,
three priests—José Burgos, Jacinto Zamora, and Mariano Gómez—were publicly
executed. The three subsequently became martyrs to the cause of Philippine
independence.
The Martyrdom of GOMBURZA

On January 20, 1872, two hundred Filipinos employed at the Cavite arsenal staged a
revolt against the Spanish government’s voiding of their exemption from the payment of
tributes. The Cavite Mutiny led to the persecution of prominent Filipinos; secular priests
Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora—who would then be collectively
named GomBurZa—were tagged as the masterminds of the uprising. The priests were
charged with treason and sedition by the Spanish military tribunal—a ruling believed to
be part of a conspiracy to stifle the growing popularity of Filipino secular priests and the
threat they posed to the Spanish clergy. The GomBurZa were publicly executed, by
garrote, on the early morning of February 17, 1872 at Bagumbayan.
The Archbishop of Manila refused to defrock them, and ordered the bells of every
church to toll in honor of their deaths; the Sword, in this instance, denied the moral
justification of the Cross. The martyrdom of the three secular priests would resonate
among Filipinos; grief and outrage over their execution would make way for the first
stirrings of the Filipino revolution, thus making the first secular martyrs of a nascent
national identity. Jose Rizal would dedicate his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to the
memory of GomBurZa, to what they stood for, and to the symbolic weight their deaths
would henceforth hold:
The Government, by enshrouding your trial in mystery and pardoning your co-accused,
has suggested that some mistake was committed when your fate was decided; and the
whole of the Philippines, in paying homage to your memory and calling you martyrs,
totally rejects your guilt. The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has put in doubt the
crime charged against you.
To mark the 142nd anniversary of the martyrdom of the priests Mariano Gómez, José Burgos,
and Jacinto Zamora, we have put together resources that detail the effect of their martyrdom
upon the Philippine revolution.
Please read: Cavite mutiny Presentation1.pptx

08.2 The Cry of Rebellion

(Pugadlawin)
The Cry of Balintawak was the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against
the Spanish Empire.
At the close of August 1896, members of the Katipunan secret society (Katipuneros) led
by Andres Bonifacio rose up in revolt somewhere in an area referred to
as Calaoacan, wider than the jurisdiction of present-day Calaoacan City which may have
overlapped into present-day Quezon City.
Originally the term cry referred to the first clash between the Katipuneros and
the Guardia Civil. The cry could also refer to the tearing up of community
taxcertificates (cédulas personales) in defiance of their allegiance to Spain. The
inscriptions of "Viva la Independencia Filipina" can also be referred as term for the cry.
This was literally accompanied by patriotic shouts.
Because of competing accounts and ambiguity of the place where this event took place,
the exact date and place of the Cry is in contention. From 1908 until 1963, the official
stance was that the cry occurred on August 26 in Balintawak. In 1963 the Philippine
government declared a shift to August 23 in Pugad Lawin, Quezon City.
Different dates and places
Various accounts give differing dates and places for the Cry. An officer of the
Spanish guardia civil, Lt. Olegario Diaz, stated that the Cry took place in Balintawak on
August 25, 1896. Historian Teodoro Kalaw in his 1925 book The Filipino Revolution wrote
that the event took place during the last week of August 1896 at Kangkong,
Balintawak. Santiago Alvarez, a Katipunero and son of Mariano Alvarez, the leader of
the Madiwang faction in Cavite, stated in 1927 that the Cry took place in Bahay Toro,
now in Quezon city on August 24, 1896. Pio Valenzuela, a close associate of Andres
Bonifacio, declared in 1948 that it happened in Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1896.
Historian Gregorio Zaide stated in his books in 1954 that the "Cry" happened in
Balintawak on August 26, 1896. Fellow historian Teodoro Agoncillo wrote in 1956 that it
took place in Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1896, based on Pío Valenzuela's statement.
Accounts by historians Milagros Guerrero, Emmanuel Encarnacion and Ramon Villegas
claim the event to have taken place in Tandang Sora 's barn in Gulod, Barangay Banlat,
Quezon City.
Some of the apparent confusion is in part due to the double meanings of the terms
"Balintawak" and "Caloocan" at the turn of the century. Balintawak referred both to a
specific place in modern Caloocan City and a wider area which included parts of modern
Quezon City. Similarly, Caloocan referred to modern Caloocan City and also a wider area
which included modern Quezon City and part of modern Pasig. Pugad Lawin, Pasong
Tamo, Kangkong and other specific places were all in "greater Balintawak", which was in
turn part of "greater Caloocan".
Definition of the Cry
The term "Cry" is translated from the Spanish el grito de rebelion (cry of rebellion) or el
grito for short. Thus the Grito de Balintawak is comparable to Mexico's Grito de
Dolores (1810). However, el grito de rebelion strictly refers to a decision or call to revolt.
It does not necessarily connote shouting, unlike the Filipino sigaw.
List of Katipunan Members present in Balintawak in August 1896 by Guillermo
Masangkay
Guillermo Masangkay
On August 26th, a big meeting was held in Balintawak, at the house of Apolonio Samson,
then cabeza of that barrio of Caloocan. Among those who attended, I remember, were
Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del Rosario, Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantas, Teodoro
Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique Pacheco, and Francisco Carreon. They were all leaders of
the Katipunan and composed the board of directors of the organization. Delegates from
Bulacan, Cabanatuan, Cavite, and Morong were also present.
At about nine o'clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting was opened with Andres
Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as secretary. The purpose was to discuss
when the uprising was to take place. Teodoro Plata, Briccio Pantas, and Pio Valenzuela
were all opposed to starting the revolution too early...Andres Bonifacio, sensing that he
would lose the discussion then, left the session hall and talked to the people, who were
waiting outside for the result of the meeting of the leaders. He told the people that the
leaders were arguing against starting the revolution early, and appealed to them in a fiery
speech in which he said:"You remember the fate of our countrymen who were shot in
Bagumbayan. Should we return now to the towns, the Spaniards will only shoot us. Our
organization has been discovered and we are all marked men. If we don't start the
uprising, the Spaniards will get us anyway. What then, do you say?"
"Revolt!" the people shouted as one.
Bonifacio then asked the people to give a pledge that they were to revolt. He told them
that the sign of slavery of the Filipinos were (sic) the cedula tax charged each citizen. "If
it is true that you are ready to revolt... I want to see you destroy your cedulas. It will be a
sign that all of us have declared our severance from the Spaniards.[5]Links to an external site.
The Cry of Balintawak occurred on August 26, 1896. The Cry, defined as that turning
point when the Filipinos finally refused Spanish colonial dominion over the Philippine
Islands. With tears in their eyes, the people as one man, pulled out their cedulas and tore
them into pieces. It was the beginning of the formal declaration of the separation from
Spanish rule."Long Live the Philippine Republic!", the cry of the people. An article from
The Sunday Tribune Magazine on August 21, 1932 featured the statements of the
eyewitness account by Katipunan General Guillermo Masangkay, "A Katipunero Speaks".
Masangkay recounts the "Cry of Balintawak", stating that on August 26,1896, a big
meeting was held in Balintawak at the house of Apolonio Samson, then the cabeza of
that barrio of Calaocan. At about nine o'clock in the morning of August 26, the meeting
was opened with Andres Bonifacio presiding and Emilio Jacinto acting as Secretary. In
August 1896, after the Katipunan was discovered, Masangkay joined Bonifacio, Emilio
Jacinto, and others in a clandestine meeting held on the 26th of that month at Apolonio
Samson’s house in Caloocan.
Initially, the leaders of the movement quarreled over strategy and tactics, and many of
its members questioned the wisdom of an open rebellion due to the lack of arms and
logistical support. However, after Bonifacio’s intense and convincing speech, everyone
destroyed their cedulas to symbolize their defiance towards Spain and, together, raised
the cry of “Revolt".
Pio Valenzuela
In 1935, Pio Valenzuela, along with Briccio Pantas and Enrique Pacheco said (in English
translation) "The first Cry of the revolution did not happen in Balintawak where the
monument is, but in a place called Pugad Lawin." In 1940, a research team of a
forerunner of the National Historical Institute (NHI) which included Valenzuela,
identified the location as part of sitio Gulod, Banlat, Calaocan. IN 1964, the NHI
described this location as the house of Tandang Sora.
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Procopio, Bonifacio,
Teodoro Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was Balintawak, the first five arriving
there on August 19, and I on August 20, 1896. The first place where some 500 members
of the Katipunan met on August 22, 1896, was the house and yard of Apolonio Samson
at Kangkong. Aside from the persons mentioned above, among those who were there
were Briccio Pantas, Alejandro Santiago, Ramon Bernardo, Apolonio Samson, and others.
Here, views were only exchanged, and no resolution was debated or adopted. It was at
Pugad Lawin, the house, store-house, and yard of Juan Ramos, son of Melchora Aquino,
where over 1,000 members of the Katipunan met and carried out considerable debate
and discussion on August 23, 1896. The discussion was on whether or not the revolution
against the Spanish government should be started on August 29, 1896... After the
tumultuous meeting, many of those present tore their cedula certificates and shouted
"Long live the Philippines! Long live the Philippines!"
Santiago Alvarez
The account of Santiago Alvarez regarding the Cry of Balintawak flaunted specific
endeavors, as stated:
We started our trek to Kangkong at about eleven that night. We walked through the rain
over dark expanses of muddy meadows and fields. Our clothes drenched and our bodies
numbed by the cold wind, we plodded wordlessly. It was nearly two in the morning when
we reached the house of Brother Apolonio Samson in Kangkong. We crowded into the
house to rest and warm ourselves. We were so tired that, after hanging our clothes out
to dry, we soon feel asleep. The Supremo began assigning guards at five o'clock the
following morning, Saturday 22 August 1896. He placed a detachment at the Balintawak
boundary and another at the backyard to the north of the house where we were
gathered. No less than three hundred men assembled at the bidding of the Supremo
Andres Bonifacio. Altogether, they carried assorted weapons, bolos, spears, daggers, a
dozen small revolvers and a rifle used by its owner, one Lieutenant Manuel, for hunting
birds. The Supremo Bonifacio was restless because of fear of sudden attack by the
enemy. He was worried over the thought that any of the couriers carrying the letter sent
by Emilio Jacinto could have been intercepted; and in that eventuality, the enemy would
surely know their whereabouts and attack them on the sly. He decided that it was better
to move to a site called Bahay Toro. At ten o'clock that Sunday morning, 23 August 1896
we arrived at Bahay Toro. Our member had grown to more than 500 and the house,
yard, and warehouse of Cabesang Melchora was getting crowded with us Katipuneros.
The generous hospitality of Cabesang Melchora was no less than that of Apolonio
Samson. Like him, she also opened her granary and had plenty of rice pounded and
animals slaughtered to feed us. The following day, Monday, 24 August, more
Katipuneros came and increased our number to more than a thousand. The Supremo
called a meeting at ten o'clock that morning inside Cabesang Melchora's barn. Flanking
him on both sides at the head of the table were Dr. Pio Valenzuela, Emilio Jacinto,
Briccio Pantas, Enrique Pacheco, Ramon Bernardo, Pantelaon Torres, Francisco Carreon,
Vicente Fernandez, Teodoro Plata, and others. We were so crowded that some stood
outside the barn. The following matters were approved at the meeting:

1. An uprising to defend the people's freedom was to be started at midnight of

Saturday, 29 August 1896;
2. To be on a state of alert so that the Katipunana forces could strike should the
situation arise where the enemy was at a disadvantage. Thus, the uprising
could be started earlier than the agreed time of midnight of 29 August 1896
should a favorable opportunity arise at that date. Everyone should steel
himself and be resolute in the struggle that was imminent; and
3. He immediate objective was the capture of Manila.

After the adjournment of the meeting at twelve noon, there were tumultuous shouts of
"Long live the Philippines.”
Cry of Balintawak or Pugadlawin
Please read the files below for further discussion

1. The Cry of the Rebellion-1.pptxDownload The Cry of the Rebellion-1.pptx

2. cry.docx