Annotation of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Through the centuries, Jose Rizal has been known to be an earnest seeker of truth – it is
this characteristic that marked him as a great historian. When the Spaniards came to
conquer the islands, he had been so passionate to know the true conditions of the
Philippines. But imagine how difficult it was to search for information during those
days – most of the available sources were either written by friars of the religious orders
and zealous missionaries determined to wipe out native beliefs and cultural practices,
which they considered idolatrous and savage.
Despite, the colonizers’ claim that they were solely responsible for refining the
Philippine islands, Rizal’s beliefs say otherwise. For him, the native populations of the
Filipinos were self-sustaining and customarily spirited - it was because of the Spanish
colonization that the Philippine’s rich culture and tradition faded to a certain extent.
In order to support this supposition, Rizal went to look for a reliable account of the
Philippines in the early days and at the onset of Spanish Colonization.
Some references say that while in Europe, Rizal came across research papers published
by eminent European scientists about ethnic communities in Asia – one of them was Dr.
Ferdinand Blumentritt, author of “Versucheiner Ethnographie der Philippinen.”
Rizal wrote to him and that was how their friendship began. It was Dr.
Blumentritt, acknowledgeable Filipinologist, who recommended Dr. Antonio Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, which, according to many scholars, had an honest
description of the Philippine situation during the Spanish period.
Other sources, however, claim that Rizal learned about Antonio Morga from his uncle,
Jose Alberto, This knowledge about an ancient Philippine history written by a Spaniard
came from the English Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Browning, who had once paid
his uncle a visit. While in London, Rizal immediately acquainted himself with the
British Museum where he found one of the few remaining copies of
Morga’s Sucesos. At his own expense, Rizal had the work republished with annotations
that showed that the Philippines was an advanced civilization prior to Spanish
colonization. Austin Craig, an early biographer of Rizal, translated some of
the more important annotations into English.
In this lesson, you will learn the importance of analyzing other people’s works in the
past in order to gain a deeper understanding of our nation, with anticipation that you,
too, may write a reliable historical fact of the Philippines.
Dr. Antonio de Morga and his Sucesos
Antonio de Morga (1559-1636) was a Spanish conquistador, a lawyer and a
government official for 43 years in the Philippines (1594-1604), New Spain and Peru. As
Deputy Governor in the country, he reinstated the Audiencia, taking over the function
of judge or oidor. He was also in command of the Spanish ships in a 1600 naval battle
against Dutch corsairs, but suffered defeat and barely survived. He may
have undergone important failures in both his military and political capacities but he is
now remembered for his work as a historian.
He was also a historian. He authored the book, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in
the Philippine Islands) in 1609 after being reassigned to Mexico. This book narrates
observations about the Filipinos and the Philippines from the perspective of the
Spaniards. In fact, this book is considered valuable in the sense that it reflects the first
formal record of the earliest days of the Philippines as a Spanish colony. Morga’s work,
which is based partly on documentary research, keen observation, and partly on his
personal involvement and knowledge, is said to be the best account of
Spanish colonialism in the country. With Morga’s position in the colonial
government, the had access to many important documents that allowed him to
write about the natives’ and their conquerors’ political, social and economic phases of
life from the year 1493 to 1603.Rizal was greatly impressed by Morga’s work
that he, himself, decided to annotate it and publish a new edition. He meticulously
added footnotes on every chapter of the Sucesos that could be a misrepresentation of
Filipino cultural practices.
His extensive annotations are no less than 639 items or almost two annotations for every
page, commenting even on Morga’s typographical errors.
Rizal began his work in London and completed it in Paris in 1890. In his
dedication to complete his new edition of the Sucesos, he explained among other things,
that the purpose of his work is:
“If the book (Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas) succeeds to awaken your
consciousness of our past, already effaced from your memory, and to rectify what has
been falsified and slandered, then I have not worked in vain, and with this as a basis,
however small it may be, we shall be able to study the future.
What, then, was Morga’s purpose for writing the Sucesos? Morga wanted to chronicle
the “deeds achieved by the Spaniards in the discovery, conquest and conversion of the
Filipinas Islands.” Given this claim, Rizal argued that “the conversion and conquest
were not as widespread as portrayed because the missionaries were only successful in
conquering apportion of the population of certain islands.
” Why, you may ask, would Rizal annotate Morga’s work? For one, the book tells the
history of wars, intrigues, diplomacy and evangelization of the Philippines in a
somewhat disjointed way. Historians, including Rizal, have noticed a definite bias, a lot
of created stories and distorted facts in the book just to fit Morga’s defense of the
Spanish conquest.
For instance, on page 248, Morga describes the culinary art of the ancient
Filipinos by recording, “they prefer to eat salt fish which begin to decompose and smell.
” Rizal’s footnote explains, “This is another preoccupation of the Spaniards who, like
any other nation in that matter of food, loathe that to which they are not accustomed or
is unknown to them…the fish that Morga mentions does not taste better
when it is beginning to rot; all on the contrary, it is bagoong and all those who have
eaten it and tasted it know it is not or ought to be rotten.”
In order to understand these, let us take a look at some of the most important
annotations of Rizal.
The Preface
Written with” Jose Rizal, Europe 1889” as a signature, the following Preface was
indicated in Rizal’s Annotation (From Annotations to Dr. Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas, n.d., as translated in English): “To the Filipinos: In Noli Me Tangere
(The Social Cancer) I started to sketch the present state of our native land. But the effect
which my effort produced made me realize that, before attempting to unroll before
your eyes the other pictures which were to follow, it was necessary first to post you on
the past. So only can you fairly judge the present and estimate how much progress has
been made during the three centuries (of Spanish rule). Like almost all of you, I was
born and brought up in ignorance of our country’s past and so, without knowledge or
authority to speak of what I neither saw nor have studied, I deem it necessary to quote
the testimony of an illustrious Spaniard who in the beginning of the new era controlled
the destinies of the Philippines and had personal knowledge of our ancient nationality
in its last days. It is then the shade of our ancestor’s civilization which the author will
call before you. If the work serves to awaken in you a consciousness of our past, and to
blot from your memory or to rectify what has been falsified or is calumny, then I shall
not have labored in vain. With this preparation, slight though it may be, we can all pass
to the study of the future.”

Notable Annotations
The English translation of some of the more important annotations of the Sucesos was
done by an early biographer of Rizal, Austin Craig (1872-1949). The following are
excerpts from Rizal's annotations to inspire young Filipinos of today (Taken from Craig,
1929 as translated by Derbyshire, n.d. in kahimyang.com).
Governor Antonio de Morga was not only the first to write but also the first to publish a
Philippine history. This statement has regard to the concise and concrete form in which
our author has treated the matter. Father Chirino's work, printed at Rome in 1604, is
rather a chronicle of the Missions than a history of the Philippines; still, it contains a
great deal of valuable material on usages and customs. The worthy Jesuit in fact admits
that he abandoned writing a political history because Morga had already done so, so
one must infer that he had seen the work in manuscript before leaving the Islands.
By the Christian religion, Doctor Morga appears to mean the Roman Catholic which by
fire and sword he would preserve in its purity in the Philippines. Nevertheless, in other
lands, notably in Flanders, these means were ineffective to keep the church unchanged,
or to maintain its supremacy, or even to hold its subjects.
Great kingdoms were indeed discovered and conquered in the remote and
unknown parts of the world by Spanish ships but to the Spaniards who sailed in them
we may add Portuguese, Italians, French, Greeks, and even Africans and Polynesians.
The expeditions captained by Columbus and Magellan, one a Genoese Italian and the
other a Portuguese, as well as those that came after them, although Spanish fleets, still
were manned by many nationalities and in them went negroes, Moluccans, and even
men from the Philippines and the Marianes Islands.
Three centuries ago it was the custom to write as intolerantly as Morga does, but
nowadays it would be called a bit presumptuous. No one has a monopoly of the true
God nor is there any nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that to it has
been given the exclusive right to the Creator of all things or sole knowledge of His real
being.
The conversions by the Spaniards were not as general as their historians claim. The
missionaries only succeeded in converting a part of the people of the Philippines. Still
there are Mahometans, the Moros, in the southern islands, and negritos, igorots and
other heathens yet occupy the greater part territorially of the archipelago. Then the
islands which the Spaniards early held but soon lost are non-Christian-
Formosa,Borneo, and the Moluccas. And if there are Christians in the Carolines, that is
due to Protestants, whom neither the Roman Catholics of Morga's day nor many
Catholics in our own day consider Christians.
It is not the fact that the Filipinos were unprotected before the coming of the Spaniards.
Morga himself says, further on in telling of the pirate raids from the south, that
previous to the Spanish domination the islands had arms and defended
themselves. But after the natives were disarmed the pirates pillaged them with
impunity, coming at times when they were unprotected by the government, which was
the reason for many of the insurrections.
The civilization of the Pre-Spanish Filipinos in regard to the duties of life for that age
was well advanced, as the Morga history shows in its eighth chapter.
The islands came under Spanish sovereignty and control through compacts,
treaties of friendship and alliances for reciprocity. By virtue of the last arrangement,
according to some historians, Magellan lost his life on Mactan and the
soldiers of Legaspi fought under the banner of King Tupas of Cebu.
The term "conquest" is admissible but for a part of the islands and then only in its
broadest sense. Cebu, Panay, Luzon Mindoro and some others cannot be said to have
been conquered.
The discovery, conquest and conversion cost Spanish blood but still more Filipino
blood. It will be seen later on in Morga that with the Spaniards and on behalf of Spain
there were always more Filipinos fighting than Spaniards.
Morga shows that the ancient Filipinos had army and navy with artillery and other
implements of warfare. Their prized krises and kampilans for their magnificent temper
are worthy of admiration and some of them are richly damascened. Their coats of mail
and helmets, of which there are specimens in various European museums, attest their
great advancement in this industry.
Morga's expression that the Spaniards "brought war to the gates of the Filipinos" is in
marked contrast with the word used by subsequent historians whenever recording
Spain's possessing herself of a province, that she pacified it. Perhaps "to make peace"
then meant the same as "to stir up war." (This is a veiled allusion to the old Latin saying
of Romans, often quoted by Spaniard's, that they made a desert, calling it making peace.
(Austin Craig).
Magellan's transferring from the service of his own king to employment under the King
of Spain, according to historic documents, was because the Portuguese King had
refused to grant him the raise in salary which he asked.
Now it is known that Magellan was mistaken when he represented to the King of Spain
that the Molucca Islands were within the limits assigned by the Pope to the
Spaniards. But through this error and the inaccuracy of the nautical instruments of that
time, the Philippines did not fall into the hands of the Portuguese.
Cebu, which Morga calls "The City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus," was at first called
"The village of San Miguel.
"The image of the Holy Child of Cebu, which many religious writers believed was
brought to Cebu by the angels, was in fact given by the worthy Italian chronicler of
Magellan's expedition, the Chevalier Pigafetta, to the Cebuano queen.
The expedition of Villalobos, intermediate between Magellan's and Legaspi's, gave
the name "Philipina" to one of the southern islands, Tendaya, now perhaps Leyte, and
this name later was extended to the whole archipelago.
Of the native Manila rulers at the coming of the Spaniards, Raja Soliman was called
"Rahang mura", or young king, in distinction from the old king,
"Rahangmatanda". Historians have confused these personages. The native fort at the
mouth of the Pasig River, which Morga speaks of as equipped with brass lantakas and
artillery of larger caliber, had its ramparts reenforced with thick hardwood
posts such as theTagalogs used for their houses and called "harigues", or "haligui".
Morga has evidently confused the pacific coming of Legaspi with the attack of Goiti and
Salcedo, as to date. According to other historians it was in 1570 that Manila was burned,
and with it a great plant for manufacturing artillery. Goiti did not take possession of
the city but withdrew to Cavite and afterwards to Panay, which make sone suspicious
of his alleged victory. As to the day of the date, the Spaniards then, having come
following the course of the sun, were some sixteen hours later than Europe.
This condition continued till the end of the year 1844, when the 31st of
December was by special arrangement among the authorities dropped from
the calendar for that year. Accordingly, Legaspi did not arrive in Manila on the 19th but
on the 20th of May and consequently it was not on the festival of Santa Potenciana but
on San Baudelio's day. The same mistake was made with reference to the other early
events still wrongly commemorated, like San Andres' day for the repulse of the
Chinesecorsair Li Ma-hong.
Though not mentioned by Morga, the Cebuano aided the Spaniards in their
expedition against Manila, for which reason they were long exempted from tribute.
The southern islands, the Bisayas, were also called "The Land of the Painted People (or
Pintados, in Spanish)" because the natives had their bodies decorated with tracings
made with fire, somewhat like tattooing.
The Spaniards retained the native name for the new capital of the archipelago, a little
changed, however, for the Tagalogs had called their city "Maynila."
When Morga says that the lands were "entrusted" (given as encomiendas) to those who
had "pacified" them, he means "divided up among." The word "en trust," like "pacify,"
later came to have a sort of ironical signification. To entrust a province was then as if
it were said that it was turned over to sack, abandoned to the cruelty and
covetousness of the encomendero, to judge from the way these gentry misbehaved.
Legaspi's grandson, Salcedo, called the Hernando Cortez of the Philippines, was the
"conqueror's" intelligent right arm and the hero of the "conquest." His honesty and fine
qualities, talent and personal bravery, all won the admiration of the Filipinos. Because
of him they yielded to their enemies, making peace and friendship with the Spaniards.
He it was who saved Manila from Li Ma-hong. He died at the early age of twenty-seven
and is the only encomendero recorded to have left the great part of his possessions to
the Indians of his encomienda. Vigan was his encomienda and the Ilokanos there were
his heirs.
The expedition which followed the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong, after his
unsuccessful attack upon Manila, to Pangasinan province, with the Spaniards of whom
Morga tells, had in it 1,500 friendly Indians from Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Panay, besides
the many others serving as laborers and crews of the ships. Former Raja Lakandola, of
Tondo, with his sons and his kinsmen went, too, with 200 more Bisayans and they were
joined by other Filipinos in Pangasinan.
If discovery and occupation justify annexation, then Borneo ought to belong to Spain. In
the Spanish expedition to replace on its throne a Sirela or Malaela, as he is variously
called, who had been driven out by his brother, more than fifteen hundred Filipino
bowmen from the provinces of Pangasinan, Kagayan, and the Bisayas participated.
It is notable how strictly the earlier Spanish governors were held to account. Some
stayed in Manila as prisoners, one, Governor Corcuera, passing five years withFort
Santiago as his prison.
In the fruitless expedition against the Portuguese in the island of Ternate, in theMolucca
group, which was abandoned because of the prevalence of beriberi among thetroops,
there went 1,500 Filipino soldiers from the more warlike provinces,
principallyKagayans and Pampangans.
The "pacification" of Kagayan was accomplished by taking advantage of the
jealousies among its people, particularly the rivalry between two brothers who were
chiefs. An early historian asserts that without this fortunate circumstance, for the
Spaniards, it would have been impossible to subjugate them.
Captain Gabriel de Rivera, a Spanish commander who had gained fame in a raid on
Borneo and the Malacca coast, was the first envoy from the Philippines to take up with
the King of Spain the needs of the archipelago. The early conspiracy of the Manila and
Pampangan former chiefs was revealed to the Spaniards by a Filipina, the wife of a
soldier, and many concerned lost their lives.
The artillery cast for the new stone fort in Manila, says Morga, was by the hand of an
ancient Filipino. That is, he knew how to cast cannon even before the coming of the
Spaniards, hence he was distinguished as 4"ancient." In this difficult art of iron working,
as in so many others, the modern or present-day Filipinos are not so far advanced as
were their ancestors.
When the English freebooter Cavendish captured the Mexican galleon SantaAna, with
122,000 gold pesos, a great quantity of rich textiles-silks, satins and damask, musk
perfume, and stores of provisions, he took 150 prisoners. All these because of their
brave defense were put ashore with ample supplies, except two Japanese lads, three
Filipinos, a Portuguese and a skilled Spanish pilot whom he kept as guides in his
further voyaging.
From, the earliest Spanish days ships were built in the islands, which might be
considered evidence of native culture. Nowadays this industry is reduced to small craft,
scows and coasters.
The Jesuit, Father Alonso Sanchez, who visited the papal court at Rome and the Spanish
King at Madrid, had a mission much like that of deputies now, but of even greater
importance since he came to be a sort of counsellor or representative to the absolute
monarch of that epoch. One wonders why the Philippines could have are
presentative then but may not have one now.
In the time of Governor Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, Manila was guarded against further
damage such as was suffered from Li Ma-hong by the construction of a massive stone
wall around it. This was accomplished "without expense to the royal treasury." The
same governor, in like manner, also fortified the point at the entrance to the river where
had been the ancient native fort of wood, and he gave it the name Fort Santiago.
The early cathedral of wood which was burned through carelessness at the time of the
funeral of Governor Dasmariñas' predecessor, Governor Ronquillo, was made,
according to the Jesuit historian Chirino, with hardwood pillars around which two men
could not reach, and in harmony with this massiveness was all the woodwork above
and below. It may be surmised from these how hard workers were the Filipinos of that
time.
A stone house for the bishop was built before starting on the governor-general's
residence. This precedence is interesting for those who uphold the civil power. Morga's
mention of the scant output of large artillery from the Manila cannon works because of
lack of master foundry men shows that after the death of the Filipino Panday Pira there
were not Spaniards skilled enough to take his place, nor were his sons as expert as he.
It is worthy of note that China, Japan and Cambodia at this time-maintained relations
with the Philippines. But in our day, it has been more than a century since the natives
of the latter two countries have come here. The causes which ended the
relationship may be found in the interference by the religious orders with the
institutions of those lands