American Historiography in the Unsurprisingly, the institutionalized history in

Philippines. The American colonial period was public universities and educational institutions
an introduction to a new tradition of scholarship carried an American perspective since the
and historical writing primarily caused by the Americans strictly controlled the education
concept of benevolent assimilation. This system. When the Americans started Filipinizing
principle is the guiding framework of the the bureaucracy in 1916, the Bureau of Public
American occupation of the Philippines. This Instruction was among the last to be let go. The
concept prompted novel ways of colonizing the first chairperson of the Department of History in
Philippines by turning the Filipinos into "little the U.S.-established University of the Philippines
brown Americans." In the Spanish period, (U.P.) was American historian Austin Craig. How
education was limited to the privileged few. was the American perspective demonstrated in
Spaniards equated education with power; the historical writings of that time?
hence, it was only logical to maintain the
A good example of this American
subjugation of the indio by keeping them largely
perspective would be early scholarship on the
uneducated. In contrast, the American colonial
Filipino-American War. Historians of the period
period made public instruction available to
would refer to it as the "Philippine Insurrection"
nearly every Filipino. They believed that public
instead of the "Filipino-American War." What
education would speed up the process of
does this connote? Insurrection is synonymous
assimilation. Public education became a
with rebellion or revolt. Rebellion is done by a
medium to instill an American consciousness
group of people against a legitimate state or
among the colonial subjects, create a
authority. Thus, by referring to the said event as
harmonious relationship between the colonized
an insurrection, they were doing two things.
and the Americans, lessen the resistance to
First, they were asserting the United States'
enforced laws and policies, and convince
legitimacy to govern the Philippine Islands, and
Filipinos that the Americanization of the society,
those who waged war against them were
culture, and politics is beneficial. They wanted
ordinary rebels. Second, by ascribing the war as
the Filipinos to think like the Americans.
a mere insurrection, they refused to recognize
The implication to historiography was the independent Philippine republic declared by
most apparent in the shift of language from the Philippine revolutionaries in 1898. A war
Spanish to English. While the Spanish colonizer entails that two sovereign nations fight it. An
had been adamant not to teach the Spanish insurrection is a mere uprising of a subject over
language to the general native population, the its sovereign state.
Americans made teaching English an essential
Similar to the Spanish historia,
part of their public education policy. The
American history in the Philippines was also
historia of the preceding period was, thus,
written for foreigners. Like their Spanish
translated to English and was included in the
predecessors, American historians and scholars
curriculum of public education. It somehow
needed to justify the U.S. occupation of the
ceased to be an affair of the privileged few, as
islands. They did this by depicting the native
was the case during the Spanish period, because
population, particularly the non-Christian
most Filipinos were given access to it in schools.
peoples in Northern Luzon and Mindanao, as
The twentieth century became the savages who needed civilizing. This kind of
period when history turned into a professional history will remain for many years after the full
academic discipline in the Philippines. independence of the Philippines from the
Americans in 1946. By the 1960s and 1970s, nonrevolutionary, reformist ilustrados, who
historians of the University of the Philippines never demanded total separation from Spain,
would pioneer a shift in perspective. even stalled the revolution for years. Agoncillo,
thus, believed that Bonifacio's historical
Philippine Nationalist Historiography. As
contribution far exceeds Rizal's. Nationalist
history continuously developed as an academic
historians all agree that Spanish colonization
discipline in the Philippines throughout the
was a period of repression and regression for
twentieth century, more and more people
the Filipinos. This claim is contrary to their
joined the foray and specialized in history. This
predecessors, who were bent on highlighting
increase in interest also prompted a diverse and
the Spanish friars' roles in Christianizing and
energetic understanding and interpretation of
modernizing the colony.
history Homegrown Filipino historians, including
Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, and The same period also coincided with the
Reynaldo lleto, pioneered an intellectual rise of activism and the anti- authoritarian
movement in history that articulated views that movement in Manila, especially in U.P., because
are pro-Filipino, nationalist, progressive, and of the Marcos dictatorship. The period of lively
hence, pro-people, pro- masses, and pro-poor. discussion on nationalism, imperialism, and
These views challenged long-held assumptions capitalism prompted progressive and Marxist
by looking at the same documentary and historiography. Renato Constantino, another
foreign-originated primary sources and historian from U.P., was the front-runner of
periodization of Philippine history with a progressive and Marxist history. For example,
different lens. This lens purported to reflect the Constantino opted to focus on the Filipinos' long
struggle of the Filipinos under colonization. tradition of revolt and revolution. He argues
that the 1896 Revolution was not a unique
For example, foremost nationalist
event in our history. The masses have always
historian Teodoro Agoncillo wrote about the
risen against their oppressors, as recorded by
Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898. Earlier
the Spanish colonizers themselves. Marxism
historians wrote about the Philippine
also inspired Amado Guerrero (widely believed
independence in this manner: The elitist
to be the nom de guerre of Jose Maria Sison),
ilustrado class waged a reformist movement
who narrated and plotted the Philippine history
that sponsored the rise of the people's national
using a perspective that focuses on the linear
consciousness. This movement inspired them to
development of the Philippine society based on
take up arms and wage a revolution for
the mode of production and class struggle.
independence. For Agoncillo, such was not the
Adopting the Marxist idea of historical
case. The 1896 Revolution was not an offshoot
materialism, Guerrero's Philippine Society and
of the earlier reform movement. Instead, it was
Revolution traced Philippine history by
a movement that germinated in the ranks of the
highlighting the relationship between classes
masses who organized themselves in the
and how such relationship leads to changes that
Katipunan, led by Andres Bonifacio. They started
propel the Philippine society from one stage to
to rise against the Spanish colonizers because of
another.
their experiences as the oppressed and
discriminated indios under Spain and not From the sixteenth century, pre-colonial
because the ilustrados inspired them. Agoncillo leaders attempted to conspire with one another
argued that far from encouraging the masses to to evict the Spaniards. In the same period,
revolt and igniting the revolution, the native spiritual leaders rebelled against the
reduccion and fought to return to their old targeted to the English-speaking sectors of the
ways. Centuries before the Katipunan, the society that consequently excludes the larger
masses have always resisted oppression and masses. While nationalist histories wanted to
colonization. These historians attempted to use pro-Filipino and nationalist perspectives,
place the people at the center of their history. they failed to induce real nationalist awakening
Agoncillo's widely used Philippine history because these histories still focused on our
textbook, The History of the Filipino People, is a colonial past and experience. It was as if our
testament to this. They used the same history was shaped only by being colonized and
documentary sources but interpreted them in that the Philipipines and the Filipinos would not
nationalist light. shaped only these foreign encounters.
Moreover, the works of the most nationalist of
However, Reynaldo lleto, despite
these historians were still written in English-the
generally subscribing to the pro-Filipino, anti-
language that is only spoken by the elite and
colonial, and nationalist perspective in history,
educated few and not understood by the
used a different approach. For him, the desire to
masses. The people and the Filipino remained at
truly reflect and place the masses at the center
the margins of these narratives, and their
of the country's history will be fulfilled by
stories were told not with them as the intended
looking at sources that genuinely reflect their
audience but for the outsiders and elite few.
consciousness and aspiration. The use of
Indeed, historia, as first brought by the
sources produced and distributed among the
Spaniards in the sixteenth century, remained
colonizers and the elite limited our
the standard of historical scholarship in the
understanding of the masses. Ileto, in his now-
country.
classic Pasyon and Revolution: Popular
Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910, For Salazar, to truly reclaim our history,
argued that the revolutionary consciousness of a fundamental change in perspective is
the people was influenced by oral traditions necessary. History should be processed, written,
that had always been present and deeply and taught in the Filipino language for the
embedded in their lives. The Pasyon was his Filipino people. Such perspective is what Salazar
prime example. According to lieto, the masses would call Pantayong Pananaw or the from-us-
who learned the Pasyon by heart saw in the for-us (inclusive) perspective. Pantayong
story of Christ their own suffering and Pananaw or P.P is a departure from the views
redemption. The Pasyon, intended to be a employed by the colonial and nationalist
religious text, became a source of revolutionary historians, which are pansilang pananaw or
inspiration. Ileto somehow foretold the next from-them-for-them perspective, and
intellectual movement in Philippine pangkaming pananaw or from-us-for-them
historiography. perspective, respectively. The fundamental
difference lies in the intended audience. In the
Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong
colonizers' pansilang pananaw, they were telling
Kasaysayan. By the mid-1970s, Zeus Salazar, a
our history and describing our culture and
member of the U.P. Department of History,
society to their fellow Spaniards or Americans.
introduced a new philosophy that would guide a
When the ilustrados, the Katipuneros, and the
new historical and social scientific scholarship
nationalists started writing history, they refuted
tradition. Salazar contends that despite the
the colonial interpretation of our history and
surge of nationalist perspective in historical
provided an alternative analysis. They started
writing, our historical narrative remains
telling our history and describing our culture
and society to the same audience. Hence, the decades, no one can doubt that, at present, it
pangkaming pananaw, Le., "we are like this" represents the acme of the development of
("ganito kami). Philippine historiography.

Pantayong Pananaw wanted to replace

the dominant historia philosophy, which
remained even after the rise of nationalist
history, and to reclaim the ancient kasaysayan in
scientific terms. Hence, Pantayong Pananaw
served as the philosophical foundation of
Bagong Kasaysayan-a reconceptualization of the
ancient kasaysayan, which focuses on the
importance of saysay or significance to the
community where the history belongs. It is the
scientific iteration of the kasaysayan of our
ancient forebears. Bagong Kasaysayan should
make sense and be understandable to the
masses and the communities because they
should always be included in the conversation.
The key to the creation of internal discourse is
the change of language. Bagong Kasaysayan,
therefore, should be written and taught in
Filipino. P.P. scholars argue that it is essential to
foster internal conversation; thus, the language
that should be used is the language that is
spoken and understood by almost everyone.
Filipino, as the undisputed lingua franca,
became the language of choice.

Furthermore, because almost all of the

primary sources used by the earlier historians
were created either by the colonizers of the
country's elites, it had been hard to place the
people in the historical narrative that has been
so far produced. Bagong Kasaysayan responds
to this challenge by exploring the use of sources
that emanated from and originated by the
people or the masses. These sources may
include artifacts, oral tradition, and existing
indigenous cultural practices.

Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong

Kasaysayan embody the most radical and
ambitious attempt at genuine Filipinization of
our history. While substantial criticism has been
issued upon it by several historians in the past
 12. What did Salazar criticize about nationalist
histories in the Philippines? They excluded the
1. Who introduced the philosophy of Pantayong
larger masses
Pananaw to guide a new historical and social
scientific scholarship tradition? Zeus Salazar 13. What did Ileto argue limited the
understanding of the masses in the Philippines
2. What did the Spanish colonization period
regarding their history? Sources from colonizers
represent for the Filipinos according to
and the elite
nationalist historians? Repression and
regression 14. What did Salazar believe was the language
that excluded the larger masses from
3. Who is believed to be the nom de guerre of
understanding their own history? English
Jose Maria Sison? Amado Guerrero
15. What did Salazar propose as a departure
4. What did the pre-colonial leaders attempt to
from the perspectives employed by colonial and
do in the sixteenth century? Evict the Spaniards
nationalist historians? Pantayong Pananaw
5. What approach did Reynaldo lleto use despite
16. What was the main goal of Pantayong
generally subscribing to a pro-Filipino
Pananaw in the context of Philippine
perspective? A different approach
historiography? To replace the dominant
6. Who argued that the masses' revolutionary historia philosophy
consciousness in the Philippines was influenced
17. Why did Pantayong Pananaw advocate for
by oral traditions like the Pasyon? Reynaldo
writing and teaching Bagong Kasaysayan in
Ileto
Filipino? To foster internal conversation
7. What was the main example used by Ileto to understood by everyone
showcase how the masses found revolutionary
18. What sources did Bagong Kasaysayan aim to
inspiration? Pasyon
explore to address the challenge of historical
8. According to Salazar, what perspective should narrative? Artifacts, oral tradition, and
be employed in processing, writing, and indigenous cultural practices
teaching history for the Filipino people?
19. What language was proposed by Pantayong
Pantayong Pananaw
Pananaw scholars for writing and teaching
9. What language did Salazar advocate for Bagong Kasaysayan? Filipino
history to be processed, written, and taught in
20. What did Pantayong Pananaw and Bagong
to truly reclaim Filipino history? Filipino
Kasaysayan attempt to achieve in Philippine
10. What did Salazar refer to as the inclusive historiography? Genuine Filipinization of
perspective that should guide historical and history
social scientific scholarship? Pantayong
21. What did Teodoro Agoncillo challenge in his
Pananaw
historical views? Long-held assumptions about
11. What did the ilustrados, according to Philippine history
Agoncillo, do regarding the revolution? Stalled it
22. What was the primary goal of public
for years
education introduced by the Americans in the
Philippines? Speed up assimilation
23. What significant change occurred in the 34. What did the American historians refuse to
language of historiography during the American recognize by labeling the conflict as an
colonial period in the Philippines? Shift from insurrection? The independent Philippine
Spanish to English republic

24. How did the Americans aim to influence the 35. What did the historians of the University of
Filipino society, culture, and politics through the Philippines pioneer in the 1960s and 1970s?
public education?. Instill American A shift in perspective
consciousness
36. Who is considered to have a historical
25. What term was commonly used by contribution that far exceeds Rizal's according to
historians of the period to refer to the Filipino- Agoncillo? Bonifacio
American War, reflecting the American
37. Which historian focused on the Filipinos'
perspective? Philippine Insurrection
long tradition of revolt and revolution?
26. What term is synonymous with rebellion or Constantino
revolt? Insurrection
38. What perspective did Amado Guerrero use
27. According to the content, what does an to narrate and plot Philippine history? Marxist
insurrection entail? A rebellion against a
39. What did Renato Constantino opt to focus
legitimate state or authority
on in his historical analysis? Filipinos' tradition
28. How did American historians justify the U.S. of revolt
occupation of the Philippines? By portraying
40. Which movement in Manila rose against the
the native population as savages in need of
Marcos dictatorship? Anti-authoritarian
civilizing
movement
29. Who were some of the Homegrown Filipino
historians mentioned in the content? Teodoro
Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, and Reynaldo
lleto

30. What intellectual movement did Teodoro

Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, and Reynaldo
lleto pioneer? Nationalist historiography

31. What was the guiding framework of the

American occupation of the Philippines during
the colonial period? Benevolent assimilation

32. What movement inspired the masses to take

up arms and wage a revolution for
independence according to Agoncillo? The
Katipunan organization

33. What lens did the Filipino historians use to

look at the periodization of Philippine history?
Nationalist lens