PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Spaces for Conflict and Controversies Is it important to learn

about the controversies
in our history?
Why so or why not?
OVERVIEW
2 key concepts in historical analysis and 4 historiographical problems in Philippine history

I II III IV V
INTERPRETATION & SITE OF THE FIRST CAVITE MUTINY RETRACTION OF CRY OF BALINTAWAK
MULTIPERSPECTIVITY MASS WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RIZAL OR PUGADLAWIN
CAVITE MUTINY? DID RIZAL RETRACT?
WHAT DO THESE TWO WHERE DID THE FIRST WHERE DID THE CRY OF
KEY CONCEPTS MEAN? CATHOLIC MASS IN THE REBELLION HAPPEN?
PHILIPPINES TAKE PLACE?
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• The modern definition of history is centered on how it impacts

the present through its consequences.
• Geoffrey Barraclough:
i. History is “the attempt to discover, on the
basis of fragmentary evidence, the
significant things about the past”.
ii. “The history we read, though based on
facts, is strictly speaking, not factual at all,
but a series of accepted judgments.”
• Historical interpretation is founded by the judgments of
historians on how the past should be seen.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION is a process used to make

sense of the past.
• Historians utilize facts from primary sources then draw their own
reading so that their intended audience may understand the
historical event.
• Not all primary sources are accessible to a general audience.
• Without proper training and background, a non-historian
interpreting a primary source may do more harm than good.
• A primary source may even cause misunderstandings;
sometimes, even resulting in more problems.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• Interpretations of the past vary according to who reads the

primary source, when it was read, and how it was read.

• Interpretations of historical events change over time.

• Many of the things we accept as “true” about the past might not
be the case anymore. History is a construct. It is open for
interpretation.
» The Code of Kalantiaw
» “Sa Aking Mga Kabata”
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• The Code of Kalantiaw

– Legal code; was a source of pride for
the people of Aklan
– In 1956, historical marker was
installed in the town of Batan, Aklan
with the following text:
“CODE OF KALANTIAW. Datu Bendehara
Kalantiaw, third Chief of Panay, born in Aklan,
established his government in the peninsula of
Batang, Aklan Sakup. Considered the First
Filipino Lawgiver, he promulgated in about 1433 a
penal code now known as Code of Kanlantiaw
containing 18 articles. Don Marcelino Orilla of
Zaragoza, Spain, obtained the original manuscript
from an old chief of Panay which was later
translated into Spanish by Rafael Murviedo.”
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY
Article I Article IV
Ye shall not kill, neither shall ye steal nor shall Observe and obey ye: Let not the peace of the
ye hurt the aged, lest ye incur the danger of graves be disturbed; due respect must be
death. All those who this order shall infringe accorded them on passing by caves and trees
shall be tied to a stone and drowned in a river or where they are. He who observes not shall die
in boiling water. by bites of ants or shall be flogged with spines till
Article II death.
Ye shall punctually meet your debt with your Article V
headman. He who fulfills not, for the first time Obey ye: Exchange in food must be carried out
shall be lashed a hundredfold, and If the faithfully. He who complies not shall be lashed
obligation is great, his hand shall be dipped for an hour. He who repeats the act shall, for a
threefold in boiling water. On conviction, he shall day be exposed to the ants.
be flogged to death. Article VI
Article III Ye shall revere respectable places, trees of
Obey ye: no one shall have wives that are too known value, and other sites. He shall pay a
young, nor shall they be more than what he can month's work, in gold or money, whoever fails to
take care of, nor spend much luxury. He who do this; and if twice committed, he shall be
fulfils not, obeys not, shall be condemned to declared a slave.
swim three hours and, for the second time, shall
be scourged with spines to death.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

Article VII Article X

They shall die who kill trees of venerable aspect; It shall be the obligation of every mother to show
who at night shoot with arrows the aged men her daughter secretly the things that are
and the women; he who enters the house of the lacivious, and prepare them for womanhood;
headman without permission; he who kills a fish men shall not be cruel to their wives, nor should
or shark or striped crocodile. they punish them when they catch them in the
Article VIII act of adultery. He who disobeys shall be torn to
They shall be slaves for a given time who steal pieces and thrown to the caymans.
away the women of the headmen; he who
possesses dogs that bite the headmen; he who • Articles XI – XVIII have similar severe and
burns another man's sown field. barbaric punnishments as the first 10 articles
Article IX of this legal code.
They shall be slaves for a given time, who sing
in their night errands, kill manual birds, tear
documents belonging to the headmen; who are
evil-minded liars; who play with the dead.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• The Code of Kalantiaw

– In 1868, William Henry Scott
(a doctoral candidate at UST)
proved the code to be a
hoax.
– Scott attributed the code to
“Las Antiguas Leyendas de
la Isla de Negros,” a
historical fiction by Jose E.
Marco published in 1913.
– Marco, the author, attributed
the code to a priest named
Jose Maria Pavon.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• Sa Aking Mga Kabata

– A poem purportedly written by Jose
Rizal at 8 yrs. old.
– One of Rizal’s most prominent
works with the lines: “Ang hindi
magmahal sa kanyang
salita/mahigit pa sa hayop at
malansang isda”
– The poew was published in 1906, in
a book by Hermenegildo Cruz. Cruz
said he received it in 1884 from
Gabriel Beato Francisco who
claimed to have received it from
Saturnino Raselis, a close friend of
Rizal.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• Sa Aking Mga Kabata: Evidences against Rizal’s authorship

1. No manuscript of the poem handwritten by Rizal
2. Rizal never mentioned writing this poem anywhere in his writings
3. He never mentioned of having a close friend by the person of
Raselis
4. Poem was written in Tagalog and referred to the word “kalayaan”
» It was documented in Rizal’s letters that he first encountered the word through a
Marcelo H. del Pilar’s translation of Rizal’s essay “El Amor Patrio,” where it was
spelled as “kalayahan”
» While Rizal’s native tongue was Tagalog, he was educated in Spanish. He
expressed his disappointment in his difficulty in expressing himself in his native
tongue.
5. Poem’s spelling
» If the poem was written in that time, it should use have the Spanish orthography
that was prevalent in Rizal’s time. The use of letters “k” and “w” to replace “c”
and “u,” respectively was only suggested by Rizal as an adult.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• There might be conflicting accounts of the past that can impact

the way we view our country’s history and identity.
• Evaluation of primary sources and historical interpretations to it
is needed to ensure that the current interpretation of the past is
reliable to support our acceptance of the events of the past.

• There are several possibilities of interpreting the past.

• Historical writing is biased, partial, and contains preconceptions.
• There are a lot of ways a historian may fail in his historical
inference, description, and interpretation.
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

• Singular historical narratives do not provide for space to inquire

and investigate.
• Different kinds of sources provide different historical truths—an
official document may note different aspects of the past than a
memoir of an ordinary person on the same event.

• MULTIPERSPECTIVITY
– a way of looking at historical events, personalities, developments,
cultures, and societies from different perspectives
– this approach in history provides for the audience a more complex, but
a more complete and richer understanding of the past
INTERPRETATION & MULTIPERSPECTIVITY

HISTORICAL
MULTIPERSP
INTERPRETA
ECTIVITY
TION

–A way of looking at
historical events,
–A process used to personalities,
make sense of the past developments, cultures,
and societies from
different perspectives.

–This approach in history

provides for the
–It is founded by the
audience a more
judgments of historians
complex, but a more
on how the past should
complete and richer
be seen. understanding of the
past.
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

The popularity of knowing where the “first mass”

happened in history has been an easy way to
trivialize history, but this case study will not focus
on the significance of the site of the First Catholic
Mass in the Philippines, but rather, use it as a
historiographical exercise in the civilization of
evidence and interpretation in reading historical
events.
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

Butuan has long been believed as the

site of the first mass. These has been the case
for three centuries, culminating in the erection
of monument in 1872 near Agusan River,
which commemorates the expedition’s arrival
and celebration of mass on April 8, 1521. The
Butuan claim has been based on an
elementary reading of primary sources.
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

There are only two primary sources that

historians refer to in identifying the site of the first
mass.

1. Log kept/ Albo’s log

- by Francisco Albo
2. First Voyage Around the World/Pigafetta
- by Antonio Pigafetta
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

• A pilot of one of Magellan’s

ship, Trinidad.
• He was one of the 18
survivors who returned with
Sebation Elcano on the ship
“Victoria” after they
circumnavigated the world.
Francisco Albo
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

• He was a member of the

Magellan expedition and
an eyewitness of the
events particularly of the
first mass.
Antonio
Pigafetta
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

Albo’s Account Pigafetta’s Account

 It must be noted  According to him the First
that in this account Catholic Mass was
the site of the first celebrated on March 31,
mass was not 1521.
mentioned, but only  The mass was officiated by
the planting of the Father Pedro de
cross upon a Valderama.
mountain top.
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS

It must be pointed out that both Albo and

Pigafetta’s testimonies coincide and corroborate
each other. Pigafetta gave more details on what
they did during their weeklong stay at Mazaua.

Jesuit Priest Miguel A. Bernal in his work Butuan

or Limasawa:The Site of the First Mass in the
Philippines: A Reexamination of Evidence (1981)
lays down the argument that in the Pigafetta
account, a crucial aspect of Butuan was not
SITE OF THE FIRST MASS
It must also be pointed out that after Magellan’s death,
the survivors of his expedition went to Mindanao, and
seemingly went to Butuan. In this instance, Pigafetta vividly
describes a trip in a river. But note that this account already
happened after Magellan’s death.
• Age of Exploration
- a period of competition among European rulers to
conquer and colonize lands outside their original domains.
Initially, the goal was to find alternative routes by sea to get
Asia, the main source of spices and other commodities.