ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
Tagudin Campus
MODULE
TITLE: CONTENT AND CONTECTUAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PRIMARY SOURCES IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY
WHAT IS THE MODULE ALL ABOUT?
In this module, we are going to look at the two Primary Sources of a particular historical
period and evaluate this document content in terms of historical value, and examine the context of
their production. This first part of the two part modules about the content and contextual analysis of
selected primary sources will cover the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines primary through
the analysis of the chronicle of “Magellan’s First Voyage around the World by Antonio Pigafetta” and
the Kartilya ng Katipunan ng Emilio Jacinto.
LIST OF TOPICS TO BE STUDIED IN THE MODULE
A. First Voyage around the World by Magellan
B. The KKK and the “Kartilya ng Katipunan”
INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME:
At the end of the module, the students are able to:
A. To determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in understanding
Philippine history.
B. To analyze the content and context of different kinds of primary sources.
C. To develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources.
LEARNING CONTENT
A. FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD BY MAGELLAN
Magellan’s First Voyage around the World by Pigafetta Ferdinand Magellan was born in
Portugal in1480 and died in 1521. As a boy, he studied mapmaking and navigation. By his mid-20s,
he was sailing in large fleets and was engaged in combats. He led the first voyage around the
world, beginning in 1519 by sailing southward along the coast of South America. Magellan
discovered the strait that today bears his name became the first European to cross the Pacific
Ocean from the west to the far-east (Zaide, 1998)
Magellan’s Route around the World (September 20, 1519 – September 6, 1522)
Crum (2007) states that Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer born between 1491
and died in1531. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
His document reveals several insights not just in the character of the Philippines during the pre-
colonial period but also on how the fresh eyes of the Europeans regard a deeply unfamiliar terrain,
environment, people, and culture. Locating Pigafetta's account in the context of its writing warrants
Course Code: GENED 102
Descriptive Title: READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY Instructor: RENALYN L. DALOG
a familiarity on the dominant frame of mind in the age of exploration which pervaded Europe in the
15th and 16 th century. Students of history need to realize that primary sources used in the
subsequent written histories depart from certain perspectives. Thus, Pigafetta's account is also
written from the perspective of Pigafetta himself, and was a product of the context of its production.
The First Voyage around the World by Magellan was published after Pigafetta returned to
Italy. For this first topic, we will focus on the chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta as he wrote his firsthand
observation and general impression of the Far East, including their experiences in Visayas. In
Pigafetta's account, their fleet reached what he called the Ladrones Island or the Island of the
Thieves.Herecounted:
"These people have no arms, but use sticks, which have a fish bone at the end. They
are poor, but ingenious, and great thieves, and for the sake of that we called these three
islands the Ladrones Islands."
Ladrones Island
The Ladrones Islands is presently known as the Marianas Islands. These islands are located
south-southeast of Japan. West-southwest of Hawaii north of New Guinea, and east of Philippines.
Ten days after they reached Ladrone Island, Pigafetta reported that they reached what Pigafetta
called the isle of Zamal, now Samar but Magellan decided to land in another uninhabited island for
greater security where they can rest for a few days. Pigafetta recounted that after two days, March
18, nine men came to them and showed joy and eagerness in seeing them. Magellan realized that
the men are reasonable and welcomed them with food, drinks, and gifts. In turn, the natives gave
those fish, palm wine (uraca), īgs, and two cochos. The natives also gave them rice (umat), cocos,
and other food supplies, Pigafetta detailed in amazement and fascination the palm tree which bore
fruits called cocho, and wine. He also described what seemed like a coconut.
Pigafetta characterized the people as "very familiar and friendly" and willingly showed them
different islands and the names of these islands the fleet went to Humunu Island (Homonhon) and
there they found what Pigafetta referred to as the Watering Place of good signs. It is in this place
where Pigafetta wrote that they found the first signs of gold in the island they named the island with
the nearby islands as the archipelago of St. Lazarus. They left the island, then on March 25th
Pigafetta recounted that they saw two Ballanghai (barangay), a long boat full of people in
Mazzava/Mazaua. The leader, who Pigafetta referred to as the king of the Ballanghai (balangay),
sent his men to the ship of Magellan. The Europeans entertained these men and gave them gifts.
When the king of the balangay offered to give Magellan a bar of gold and a chest of ginger,
Magellan declined. Magellan sent the interpreter to the king and asked for money for the needs of
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
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his ships and expressed that he came into the islands as a friend and not as an enemy. The king
responded by giving Magellan the needed provisions of food in chinaware, Magellan exchanged
gifts of robes in Turkish fashion, red cap, and gave the people knives and mirrors. The two then
expressed their desire to become brothers. Magellan also boasted of his men in armor who cannot
be struck with swords and daggers. The king was fascinated and remarked that men in such armor
can be worth one hundred of his men. Magellan further showed the king his other weapons,
helmets, and artilleries. Magellan also shared with the king his charts and maps and shared how
they found the islands.
After a few days, Magellan was introduced to the king's brother who was also a king of
another island. They went to this island and Pigafetta reported that they saw mines of gold. The
gold was abundant that parts of the ship and of the house of the second king were made of gold.
Pigafetta described this king as the most handsome of all the men that he saw in this place. He was
also adorned with silk and gold accessories like a golden dagger, which he carries with him
in a wooden polished sheath. This king is named Raia Calambu, king of Zuluan and Calagan,
Butuan and Caragua and the first king was Raia Siagu. On March 31st, which happened to be
Easter Sunday, Magellan ordered the chaplain to say a mass by the shore. The king heard of this
plan and sent two dead pigs and attended the mass with the other king. Pigafetta reported that both
kings participated in the mass.
First Mass in the Philippines (April 27, 1521)
When the mass had ended, Magellan ordered that the cross be brought with nails and crown
in place. Magellan explained that the cross, the nail, and the crown were the signs of his emperor
and that he was ordered to plant it in the places that he will reach. Magellan further explained that
the cross will be beneficial for their people because once other Spaniards saw this cross, then they
would know that they have been in this land and would not cause those troubles, and any person
who might be held captives by them will be released. Raha Calambu concurred and allowed for the
cross to be planted. This mass will go down in history as the “First Mass in the Philippines”, and the
cross will be the famed Magellan's cross still preserved at present day, after seven days, Magellan
and his men decided to move and look for islands where they can acquire more supplies and
provisions.
They learned of the islands of Ceylon (Leyte), Bohol, and Zzubu (Cebu) and intended to go
there. Raha Calambu offered to pilot them in going to Cebu, the largest and the richest of the
islands. By April 7th of the same year, Magellan and his men reached the port of Cebu. The king of
Cebu, through Magellan's interpreter demanded that they pay tribute as it was customary, but
Magellan refused. Magellan said that he was a captain of a king himself and thus would not pay
tribute to other kings. Magellan's interpreter explained to the king of Cebu that Magellan's king was
the emperor of a great empire and that it would do them better to make friends with them than to
forge enmity. The king of Cebu consulted his council. By the next day, Magellan's men and the king
of Cebu, together with other principal men of Cebu, met in an open space. There the king offered a
bit of his blood and demanded that Magellan do the same.
The next day. Magellan spoke before the people of Cebu about peace and God. Pigafetta
reported that the people took pleasure in Magellan's speech. Magellan then asked the people who
would succeed the king after his reign and the people responded that the eldest child of the king,
who happened to be a daughter, would be the next in line. Pigafetta also related how the people
talked about, how at old age, parents are no longer taken into account and had to follow the orders
of their children as the new leaders of the land. Magellan responded to this by saying that his faith
entails children to render honor and obedience to their mother and father. Magellan reached about
their faith further and people were reportedly convinced Pigafetta wrote that their men were
overjoyed seeing that the people wished to become Christians through their free will and not
because they were forced or intimidated.
On the 14th of April, the people gathered with the king and other principal men of the
islands. Magellan spoke to the king and encouraged him to be a good Christian by burning all of the
idols and worship the cross instead. The king of Cebu was then baptized as a Christian.
It was after eight days when Pigafetta counted that all of the island inhabitants were already
baptized. He admitted that they burned a village down for obeying neither the king nor Magellan.
The mass started to be conducted by the shore every day. When the queen came to mass,
Magellan gave her an image of the Infant Jesus made by Pigafetta himself. The king of Cebu swore
that he would always be faithful to Magellan. When Magellan reiterated that all of the newly
baptized Christians need to burn their idols but the natives gave excuses telling Magellan that they
needed the idols to heal a sick man who was a relative to the king, Magellan insisted that they
should instead put their faith in Jesus Christ. They went to the sick man and baptized him. After the
baptismal, Pigafetta recorded that the man was able to speak again. He called this a miracle.
On the 26th of April, Zula, a principal man from the island of Matan (Mactan) went to see
Magellan and asked him for a boat full of men so that he would be able to fight the chief named
Silapulapu (Lapulapu). Such chief, according to Zula, refused to obey the king and was also
preventing him from doing so, Magellan offered three boats instead and expressed his desire to go
to Mactan himself to fight the said chief Magellan's forces arrived in Mactan in daylight. They
numbered 49 in total and the islanders of Mactan were estimated to number 1,500. The battle
began. Pigafetta recounted:
“When we reached land we found the islanders fifteen hundred in number, drawn up
in three squadrons; they came down upon us with terrible shouts, two squadrons attacking
us on the Hanks, and the third in front. The captain then divided his men in two bands. Our
musketeers and crossbow-men fired for half an hour from a distance, but did nothing since
the bullets and arrows, though they passed through their shields made of thin wood, and
perhaps wounded their arms, yet did not stop them. Perceiving that our bodies were
protected with armors, the natives aimed in our legs instead. The captain shouted not to fire,
but he was not listened to. The natives seeing that the shots of our guns did them little or no
harm would not retire, but shouted more loudly, and springing from one side to the other to
avoid our shots, they at the same time drew nearer to us, throwing arrows, javelins, spears
hardened in fire, stones, and even mad, so that we could hardly defend ourselves. While the
Indians were thus overpowering the captain, several times he turned around towards us to
see if we were all in safety, as though his obstinate fight had no other object than to give an
opportunity for the retreat of his men. “The captain was specifically targeted because the
natives knew that he was the captain general.
He was pierced with a poisoned arrow in his right leg and was hit with a lance in the face.
The captain retaliated and pierced the native with his lance in the breast and tried to draw his sword
but could not lift it because of his wounded arm... Seeing that the captain has already deteriorated,
more natives came to attack him. One Native with a great sword delivered a blow in the captain left
leg, brought him face down and the natives ceaselessly attacked the captain with lances, swords,
and even with their bare hands. The captain died in that battle. Pigafetta also said that the king of
Cebu who was baptized could have sent help but Magellan instructed him not to join the battle and
stay in the balangay so that he would see how they fight. The king offered the people Mactan gifts
of any value and amount in exchange of Magellan’s body but the chief refused. They wanted to
keep Magellan’s body as a momento of their victory.
Magellan’s men elected Duarte Barbosa as the new captain. Pigafetta also told how
Magellan’s slave and interpreter named Henry betrayed them and told the king of Cebu that they
intend to leave as quickly as possible. Pigafetta alleged that the slave told the king that if he
followed the slave’s advice, then the king could acquire the ships and the goods of Magellan fleet.
The two conspired and betrayed what was left of Magellan’s men. The king invited these men to a
gathering where he said he would present the jewels that he would send for the King of Spain.
Pigafetta was not able to join the twenty-four men who attended because he was nursing his battle
wounds. It was only a short time when they heard cries and lamentations. The natives had slain all
of the men except the interpreter and Juan Serrano who was already wounded. Serrano was
presented and shouted at the men on the ship asking them to pay ransom so he would be spared.
However, they refused and would not allow anyone to go to the shore. The fleet departed and
abandoned Serrano, They left Cebu and continued their journey around the world and of the five
ships that compose Magellan’s Expedition, only ship Victoria was able to return to Spain on
September 6, 1522.
B. THE KKK AND THE “KARTILYA NG KATIPUNAN”
The KKK and the kartilya ng Katipunan, Analysis of the "Kartilya ng Katipunan Cristobal
(1997) stated that the writing of the Kartilya has always been attributed to Emilio Jacinto. Bonifacio,
had initially planned that his “Decalogue” should be published and given to newcomers, but he then
read Jacinto’s Kartilya and concluded it was better and exceptional. The two documents, however,
are not really similar. The Supremo pursues only to specify the duties and responsibilities of
Katipunan associates, Jacinto expresses in his writing, a declaration of aspirations and ethical
principles. Bonifacio in his Decalogue lists ten responsibilities; Jacinto presents twelve “guiding
principles” and fourteen “teachings”. The earliest mention to the Kartilya according to Richardson
(2013) yet discovered is in the transcripts of a Supreme Assembly conference held in December
1895, which declare that each copy of the Kartilya will be priced at 4 kualta.
Whether it is the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK)
divisions or the new recruits who are to pay for this price is not clear, and nor is it known whether
the phrase – Sa May Nasang Makisanib sa Katipunang Ito (“To those who want to join this
Katipunan” - means possible recruits, or to mean to those who have previously joined this
Katipunan. If the copies were sold both to the potential members as well as recruits there was is a
severe danger they might fall into the authorities. Richardson (2018) states that The Kartilya was in
use during the first stage of the revolt, and Andres Bonifacio as the Supremo was preparing to
publish more copies shortly before he was executed. It may still have been in circulation during the
second stage of the uprising, because a version survives in the Philippine Insurgent Records (PIR)
that is printed with the seal used by Artemio Ricarte in 1899.
This edition contains mostly the same text, but it bears a different title – “Final Declaration on
Admission to the Katipunan” (Katapusang pamamahayag sa pagpasok sa
Kartilya ng Katipunan
The Katipunan Code of Conduct [translation by Gregorio Nievaas cited by Gripaldo (2009)]
1. The life that is not consecrated to a lofty and reasonable purpose is a tree without a
shade, if not a poisonous weed.
2. To do good for personal gain and not for its own sake is not virtue.
3. It is rational to be charitable and love one's fellow creature, and to adjust one's conduct,
acts and words to what is in itself reasonable.
4. Whether our skin be black or white, we are all born equal: superiority in knowledge, wealth
and beauty are to be understood, but not superiority by nature.
5. The honorable man prefers honor to personal gain; the scoundrel, gain to honor.
6. To the honorable man, his word is sacred.
7. Do not waste thy time: wealth can be recovered but not time lost.
8. Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor before the law or in the field.
9. The prudent man is sparing in words and faithful in keeping secrets.
10. On the thorny path of life, man is the guide of woman and the children, and if the guide
leads to the precipice, those whom he guides will also go there.
11. Thou must not look upon woman as a mere plaything, but as a faithful companion who
will share with thee the penalties of life; her (physical) weakness will increase thy interest in her and
she will remind thee of the mother who bore thee and reared thee.
12. What thou dost not desire done unto thy wife, children, brothers and sisters, that do not
unto thewife, children, brothers and sisters of thy neighbor.
13. Man is not worth more because he is a king, because his nose is aquiline, and his color
white, not because he is a *priest, a servant of God, nor because of the high prerogative that he
enjoys upon earth, but he is worth most who is a man of proven and real value, who does good,
keeps his words, is worthy and honest; he who does not oppress nor consent to being oppressed,
he who loves and cherishes his fatherland, though he be born in the wilderness and know no
tongue but his own.
14. When these rules of conduct shall be known to all, the longed-for sun of Liberty shall rise
brilliant over this most unhappy portion of the globe and its rays shall diffuse everlasting joy among
the confederated brethren of the same rays, the lives of those who have gone before, the fatigues
and the well-paid sufferings will remain. If he who desires to enter (the Katipunan) has informed
himself of all this and believes he will be able to perform what will be his duties, he may fill out the
application for admission.
SUMMARY LEARNED IN THE MODULE:
Pigafetta was chronicler commissioned by the King of Spain to accompany and
document a voyage intended to expand the Spanish empire. His travelogue is one of the earliest
and most important written account and primary source in the study of pre-colonial Philippines.
Being the earliest detailed documentation, it was believed that Pigafetta’s writings account for the
“purest” pre-colonial society.
His account became major referent to the events leading to Magellan’s circumnavigation of
the world, his arrival in the Philippines, encounter with local leaders, the first mass in the country
and his death in the hands of Lapulapu’s forces in the famous Battle of Mactan. His document also
provided detailed information as one of the survivors of what was left of Magellan’s feet that
returned to Spain.
The writing of the Kartilya has always been attributed to Emilio Jacinto. Bonifacio, had initially
planned that his “Decalogue” should be published and given to newcomers, but he then read
Jacinto’s Kartilya and concluded it was better and exceptional. The two documents, however, are
not really similar. The Supremo pursues only to specify the duties and responsibilities of Katipunan
associates, Jacinto expresses in his writing, a declaration of aspirations and ethical principles.
Bonifacio in his Decalogue lists ten responsibilities; Jacinto presents twelve “guiding principles” and
fourteen “teachings
Gripaldo, Rolando M. (2009) Jacinto’s Libertarian Philosophy of Revolution Filipino
philosophy: Traditional Approach. Part I, Sec. 1. Quezon City: C & E Publishing, Inc.,
Independent Grand Lodge F & AM of the Philippine Islands, (2006), Philippine Center
for Masonic Studies Retrieved Kartilya ng Katipunan, August 30, 2020 from
http://www.philippinemasonry.org/kartilya-ng-katipunan.html Pigafetta A. (1874) the First
Voyage Around the World by Magellan, trans.
Lord Stanley Richardson, Jim (2013) Supreme Assembly, Meeting held on December 24-25,
1895 Retrieved August 30, 2020 from http://www.kasaysayan-kkk.info/1892-1895/supreme-
assemblymeeting-held-on-december-24-25-1895
Richardson, Jim (2018) Andres Bonifacio and others, Declaration, c. April 19, 1897 (The
"Naik Military Agreement") Retrieved August 30, 2020 from http://www.kasaysayan-
kkk.info/cavite-politics-in-a-time-of-revolution/andres-bonifacio-and-others-declaration-capril-
19-1897-the-naik-military-agreement Zaide, S. (1998). The Philippines: A Unique Nation, All
Nations Publishing.
Agoncillo, T. (1990) History of the Filipino People, Quezon City, Garotech Publishing.
Cristobal, Adrian E., (1997) The Tragedy of the Revolution, Makati City: Studio 5 Publishing
Inc., 46 Crum, Haley (2007), The Man Who Sailed The World Retrieved
August 30, 2020 fromhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-sailed-the-
world-155994800/
