Readings of

Philippine History
(GE7)
 HELL
O!
I am Merrilyn A. San Juan
I am here to teach you the
signicance of examining or
analyzing the past event’s sources
of the Philippines.
You can find me at:
@[email protected]
m
@[email protected]
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction to
History:
Definition, Issues,
Sources and
Methodology
Learning Objectives:
╸ to understand the meaning of
history as an academic discipline
and to be familiar with the
underlying philosophy and
methodology of the discipline;
╸ to apply the knowledge in
historical methodology and
philosophy in assessing and
analyzing existing historical
narratives;
Learning Obejctives:
╸ to examine and assess critically
the value of historical evidence
and sources ; and
╸ to appreciate the importance of
history in the social and national
life of the Philippines.
Definition and Subject Matter
╸ History was derived from the
Greek word historia which
means “knowledge acquired
through inquiry or investigation.”
╸ Historia became known as the
account of the past of a person or
of a group of people through
written documents and historical
evidences.
 Definition and Subject Matter
╸ History was also focused on writing
about wars, revolution and other
important breakthroughs.
╸ What counts as history?
╸ For traditional historians “no
document, no history." It means that
unless a written document can
prove a certain historical event, then
it cannot be considered as a
historical fact.
Definition and Subject Matter
╸ But, history progressed and
opened up to the possibility of
valid historical sources, which
were not limited to written
documents, like government
records, chroniclers' accounts or
personal letters.
Definition and Subject Matter
╸ Restricting historical evidence as
exclusively written is also
discrimination against other
social classes who were not
recorded in paper.
╸ Does the absence of written
documents about them mean that
they were people of no history or
past?
Definition and Subject Matter
╸ History thus became more
inclusive and started
collaborating with other
disciplines as its auxiliary
disciplines.
╸ With the aid of archaeologists,
linguists, or even the scientists
like biologists and biochemists
can help with the study of the
past.
Questions and Issues of History
╸ What is history? Why study
history? And history for whom?
╸ These questions can be answered
by historiography. In simple
terms, historiography is the
history of history.
╸ History and historiography
should not be confused with each
other.
 Questions and Issues of History
╸ The former's object of study is the past,
the events that happened in the past,
and the causes of such events. The
latter's object of study, on the other
hand, is history itself.
╸ Thus, historiography lets the students
have a better understanding of history.
They do not only get to learn historical
facts, but they are also provided with
the understanding of the facts and the
historian's contexts.
Questions and Issues of History
╸ Historiography is important for
someone who studies history
because it teaches the student to
be critical in the lessons of
history presented to him.
╸ History has played various roles
in the past.
 Questions and Issues of History
╸ States use history to unite nation. It
can be used as a tool to legitimize
regimes and forge a sense of
collective identity through collective
memory.
╸ It can be used to make sense of the
present. It also help people to not
repeat them. Being reminded of a
great past can inspire people to keep
their good practices to move forward.
Questions and Issues of History
╸ Positivism
╸ is the school of thought that
requires empirical and
observable evidence before one
can claim that a particular
knowledge is true
╸ It also entails an objective means
of arriving at a conclusion
╸ "no document, no history”
Questions and Issues of History
╸ Positivist historians are also
expected to be objective and
impartial not just in their
arguments but also on their
conduct of historical research.
╸ As a narrative, any history that
has been taught and written is
always intended for a certain
group of audience.
Questions and Issues of History
╸ Postcolonialism
╸ It is school of thought that
emerged in the early twentieth
century when formerly colonized
nations grappled with the idea of
creating their identities and
understanding their societies
against the shadows of their
colonial past.
Questions and Issues of History
╸ Postcolonial history looks two
things in writing history: first is
to tell the history of their nation
that will highlight their identity
free from that of colonial
discourse and knowledge, and
second is to criticize the
methods, effects, and idea
colonialism.
 Questions and Issues of History
╸ One of the problems confronted by
history is the accusation that the
history is always written by victors.
╸ This connotes that the narrative of
the past is always from the bias of
the powerful and the more dominant
player.
╸ For instance, the history of the
Second World War in the Philippines
always depicts the United States as
the hero and the Imperial Japanese
Army as the oppressors.
History and Historian
╸ If history is written with agenda
or is heavily influenced by the
historian, is it possible to come
up with an absolute historical
truth?
╸ We cannot access the past
directly as our subject matter.
Historians only get to access
representation of the past through
historical sources and evidences.
History and Historian
╸ Therefore, if it is the historian’s
job not just to seek historical
evidences and facts but also to
interpret these facts. “Facts
cannot speak for themselves.” It
is the job of the historian to give
meaning to these facts and
organize them into a timeline,
establish causes, and write
history.
History and Historian
╸ The historian is a person of his
own who is influenced by his
own context, environment,
ideology, education, and
influences, among others. In that
sense, his interpretation of the
historical fact is affected by his
context and circumstances.
History and Historian
╸ His subjectivity will inevitably
influence the process of his
historical research; the
methodology that he will use, the
facts that he shall select and
deem relevant, his interpretation,
and even the form of his
writings.
╸ Thus, history is always
subjective, If that is so, can
history still be considered as an
History and Historian
╸ Historical research requires rigor.
╸ The study of history remains
scientific because of the rigor of
research and methodology that
historians employ.
╸ Historical methodology comprises
certain techniques and rules that
historians follow in order to
properly utilize sources and
historical evidences in writing
history.
History and Historian
╸ In doing so, historical claims
done by historians and the
arguments that they forward in
their historicalnwritings, while
may be influences by the
historian’s inclinations, can still
be validated by using reliable
evidences and employing correct
and meticulous historical
methodology.
History and Historian
╸ The Annales School of History
╸ It is a school born in France that
challenged the canons of history.
╸ Annales scholars like Lucien,
Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand
Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff
studied other subjects in a
historical manner.
 History and Historian
╸ They were concerned with social
history and studied longer historical
periods.
╸ They advocated that the people and
classes who were not reflected in the
history of the society in the grand
manner be provided with space in the
records of mankind.
╸ Annales thinkers married history with
other disciplines like geography,
anthropology, archaeology, and
linguistics.
Historical Sources
╸ The historian’s most important
research tools are historical
sources.
╸ Historical sources can be
classified between primary and
secondary sources. The
classification of sources between
these two categories depends on
the historical subjects being
studied.
Historical Sources
╸ Primary sources are those
sources produced at the same
time as the event, period, or
subject being studied. For
example, if a historian wishes to
study the Commonwealth
Constitution Convention of 1935,
his primary sources can include
the minutes of the convention,
newspaper clippings, Philippine
Commission reports of the U.S.
Historical Sources
╸ Commissioners, records of the
convention, the draft of the
Constitution, and even
photographs of the events.
Historical Sources
╸ Secondary sources are those
sources, which were produced by
an author who used primary
sources to produce the material.
In other words, secondary
sources are historical sources,
which studied a certain historical
subject.
 Historical Sources
╸ For example, on the subject of the
Philippine Revolution of 1896,
students can read Teodoro
Agoncillo’s Revolt of the Masses:
The Story of Bonifacio and the
Katipunan published originally in
1956. The Philippine Revolution
happened in the last years of the
nineteenth century while Agoncillo
published his work in 1956, which
makes the Revolt of the Masses a
secondary source.
Historical Sources
╸ More than this, in writing the
book, Agoncillo used primary
sources with his research like
documents of the Katipunan,
interview with the veterans of the
Revolution, and correspondence
between and among Katipuneros.
Historical Sources
╸ However, a student should not be
confused.
╸ The classification of sources
between primary and secondary
depends not on the period when
the source was produced or the
type of the source but on the
subject of the historical research.
Historical Sources
╸ For example, if a historian
chooses to write the history of
education in the 1980s, he can
utilize textbooks used in that
period as a primary source. If a
historian wishes to study the
historiography of the Filipino-
American War for example, he
can use works of different
authors on the topic as his
primary source as well.
Historical Sources
╸ Both primary and secondary
sources are useful in writing and
learning history. However,
historians and students of history
need to thoroughly scrutinize
these historical sources to avoid
deception and to come up with
the historical truth.
 Historical Sources
╸ The historian should be able to
conduct an external and internal
criticism of the source, especially
primary sources which can age in
centuries.
╸ External criticism is the practice of
verifying the authenticity of evidence
by examining its physical
characteristics; consistency with the
historical characteristics of the time
when it was produced; and the
materials used for the evidence.
Historical Sources
╸ Examples of the things that will
be examined when conducting
external criticism of a document
include the quality of the paper,
the type of the ink, and the
language and words used in the
material, among others.
 Historical Sources
╸ Internal criticism, on the other hand,
is the examination of the truthfulness
of the evidence. It looks at the
content of the source and examines
the circumstance of its production.
╸ Internal criticism looks at the
truthfulness and factuality of the
evidence by looking at the author of
the source, its context, the agenda
behind its creation, the knowledge
which informed it, and its intended
purpose, among others.
Historical Sources
╸ For example, Japanese reports
and declarations during the
period of the war should not be
taken as a historical fact hastily.
Internal criticism entails that the
historian acknowledge and
analyze how such reports can be
manipulated to be used as
acknowledge and analyze how
such reports can be manipulated
to be used as war propaganda.
Historical Sources
╸ Validating historical sources is
important because the use of
universified, falsified, and
untruthful historical sources can
lead to equally false conclusions.
Without thorough criticisms of
historical evidences, historical
deceptions and lies will be highly
probable.
Historical Sources
╸ One of the most scandalous cases
of deception in Philippine history
is the hoax Code of Kalantiaw.
The code was a set of rules
contained in an epic. Maragtas,
which was allegedly written by a
certain Datu Kalantiaw.
Historical Sources
╸ The document was sold to the
National Library and was
regarded as an important
precolonial document until 1968,
when American historian
William Henry Scott debunked
the authenticity of the code due
to anachronism and lack of
evidence to prove that the code
existed in the precolonial
Philippine society.
 Historical Sources
╸ Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that
he was a decorated World War II
soldier who led a guerilla unit called
Ang Maharlika. This was widely
believed by students of history and
Marcos had war medals to show.
╸ This claim however, was disproven
when historians counterchecked
Marcos’s claims with the war
records of the United States. These
cases prove how deceptions can
propagate without rigorous
Historical Sources

╸ The task of the historian is to

look at the available historical
sources and select the most
relevant and meaningful for
history and for the subject matter
that he is studying. History, like
other academic discipline, has
come a long way but still has a
lot of remaining tasks to do.
Historical Sources
╸ It does not claim to render
absolute and exact judgment
because as long as questions are
continuously asked, and as long
as time unfolds, the study of
history can never be complete.
╸ The task of the historian is to
organize the past that is being
created so that it can offer
lessons for nations, societies, and
civilization.
Historical Sources
╸ It is the historian’s job to seek for
the meaning of recovering the
past to let the people see the
continuing relevance of
provenance, memory,
remembering, and historical
understanding for both the
present and the future.
Historical Sources
╸ Philipine historiography
underwent several changes since
the precolonial period until the
present. Ancient Filipinos
narrated their history through
communal songs and epics that
they passed orally from a
generation to another. When the
Spaniards came, their chroniclers
started recording their
observations through written
Historical Sources
╸ The perspective of historical
writing and inquiry also shifted.
The Spanish colonizers narrated
the history of their colony in a
bipartite view. They saw the age
before colonization as a dark
period in the history of the
islands, until they brought light
through Western thought and
Christianity
Historical Sources
╸ Early nationalists refuted this
perspective and argued the
tripartite view. They saw the age
before colonization as a dark
period in the history of the
islands, until they brought light
through Western thought and
Christianity. Early nationalists
refuted this perspective and
argued the tripartite view.
Historical Sources
╸ They saw the precolonial society
as a luminous age that ended
with darkness when the
colonizers captured their
freedom. They believed that the
light would come again once the
colonizers were evicted from the
Philippines.
Historical Sources
╸ Filipino historian Zeus Salazar
introduced the new guiding
philosophy for writing and
teaching history: pantayang
pananaw (for us-from us
perspective). This perspective
highlights the importance of
facilitating an internal
conversation and discourse among
Filipinos about our own history,
using the language that is
Chapter
Exercises
 A. True or False
Directions: Write true if the
statement is true. Otherwise, write
false in the space provided.
____1. Historical is the study of the
past.
____2. Historical sources that were
not written should not be used in
writing history.
____3. The subject of historiography
is history itself.
____4. History has no use for the
present, thus, the saying “past is past”
is true.
____5. History is limited to the story
of a hero versus a villain.
____6. Only primary sources may be
used in writing history.
____7. There are three types of
sources; primary, secondary, and
tertiary sources.
____8. External criticism is done by
examining the physical characteristics
of a source.
____9. Internal criticism is done by
looking at a source’s quality of paper
and type of ink among others.
____10. The historians are the only
source of history.
 B. What Source?
Directions: Read the following
scenarios and classify the sources
discovered as primary, secondary, or
tertiary sources. Write your answer
in the space provided.
1. Jose was exploring the library in his new
school in Manila. He wanted to study the
history of Calamba, Laguna during thM
nineteenth century. In one of the books, he
saw an old photograph of a woman standing
in front of an old church, clipped among
pages. At the back of the photo was a fine
inscription that says "Kalamba, 19 de Junio
1861."

Is the photograph a primary secondary, or a

tertiary source?
___________________________
2. It was Lean’s first day in his first year of
college in a big university His excitement
made him come to clan unusually early and
he found their classroom empty. He explored
the classroom and sat at the teacher's table.
He looked at the table drawer and saw a book
entitled U.G. An Underground Tale: The
Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First
Quarter Storm Generation. He started reading
the book and realized that it was a biography
of a student leader turned political activist
during the time of Ferdinand Marcos.
The author used interviews with friends and
family of Jopson, and other primary
documents related to his works and life.

Is the book a primary, secondary, or a tertiary

source?
__________________________________
3. Lorena was a new teacher of Araling
Panlipunan in a small elementary school in
Mauban Quezon. Her colleagues gave her the
new textbook that she ought to use in class.
Before the class started, Lorena studied the
textbook carefully. She noted that the authors
used works by other known historians in
writing the textbook. She saw that the
bibliography included Teodoro Agoncillo's
The Revolt of the Masses and The Fateful
Years Japan's Adventure in the Philippines,
1941-45.
She also saw that the authors used Ma. Luisa
Camagay's Working Women of Manila
During the 19th Century and many others.

Is the textbook a primary, secondary, or a

tertiary source?
__________________________________
4.Manuel visited the United States for a
few months to see his relatives who have
lived there for decades. His uncle brought
him on tours around Illinois. Manuel
visited the Field Museum of Natural
History where a golden image of a woman
caught his eye. Manuel looked closer and
read that the image was called "The Golden
Tara." It originated from Agusan del Sur
and was bought by the museum in 1922.
 It was believed to be made prior to the
arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines.

Is the sculpture a primary, secondary, or

tertiary source?
__________________________________
5. Gregoria loved to travel around the
country. She liked bringing with her u travel
brochure that informs her of the different sites
worth visiting in the area. Her travel brochure
was usually produced by the tourism
department of the province. It shows pictures
destinations visited by tourists and a few
basic information about the place like the
origin of the name, the historical significance
of the place, and some other information
acquired by the office researchers and writers.
Is the travel brochure a primary, secondary, or
a tertiary source?
__________________________________
C.My Primary Source
Directions: Using the examples of a primary
source in this chapter, bring a primary source
that can be used in the writing of your life
history. Present this in class and discuss how
it qualifies as a primary source.
THANK
S!