READINGS IN

PHILIPPINE
HISTORY
General Education 02

The course aims to expose students to different facets of Philippine

History through the lens of eyewitnesses . Rather than relying on secondary
materials such as textbooks, which is the usual approach in teaching
Philippine history, different types of primary sources will be used – written
(qualitative and quantitative), oral, visual, audio -visual, digital – covering
various aspects of Philippine life (political, economic, social and cultural) .
Students are expected to analyze the selected readings contextually and
in terms of content (stated and implied) . The end goal is to enable students
to understand and appreciate our rich past by deriving insights from those
who were actually present at the time of the event .

MS. ZION GRACE I. MAHAM

__
LECTURER
 COURSE INTRODUCTION
Reforms to the basic education system of the Philippines have resulted into the introduction of the K to
12 program, a much needed development since the Philippines has been the last country in Asia with a 10-year
pre-university cycle. Globally, the accepted span of basic education is 12 years, and it is recognized as the
standard for students and professionals.
With the lengthening of basic education, there is a need for higher education institutions to respond
with the same enthusiasm in reforming their respective course offerings and programs. The Commission on
Higher Education (CHED) approved the New General Education (GE) Program, which aims to restructure the
old GE program in higher education institutions to respond to respond to the challenges of the times. It is
geared toward the holistic development of the person in overlapping realms of the individual, the Filipino
community, and the global community.
It is in these realities that the General Education course Readings in Philippine History is
situated, with the course description “Philippine history viewed from the lens of selected primary sources in
different periods, analysis, and interpretations.” The focus of the course is to develop historiographical skills
connected to context and content analysis, applying both analytical strategies in themes and topics across the
Philippine past. Primary sources will be the ultimate bridge between the past and the present, allowing spaces
for students to simply not parrot facts about the past but to gain knowledge that can be used in proposing
solutions to the problems of today.
The use of primary sources in studying about the past connects the history learner to the text producers
themselves, allowing for a richer experience of understanding and appreciation. However, the use of primary
sources for those who lack the sufficient training and knowledge could also be disastrous, and may be a source
of misunderstanding and alienation to the events of the past. This course is to provide a strategy on how to
study the Philippine history through primary sources, in hopes that the teacher and the student would have the
best opportunity to learn and study about the past while taking great care in watching the steps they take in
their attempt to utilize primary sources in history.

COURSE OUTCOMES
❑ Introduction of Subject Policies and Expectation setting for the course.
❑ Explain history from different schools of thought, the distinction of primary and secondary sources;
external and internal criticism, repositories of primary sources, and different kind of primary sources.
❑ Write an autobiography using different types of sources.
❑ Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in
understanding
Philippine History.
❑ Analyze the context, content, and perspective of different kinds of primary sources.
❑ Resolve conflicting views and controversies in Philippine history by presenting evidences.
❑ Analyze the social, political, economic, and cultural issues in Philippine history. ❑ Interview an
eyewitness to a certain historical event in the locality.
NOTE TO
STUDENTS
you do away with the misconception that history is boring field of been victims of
the stereotypes appropriated to history as it has been for centuries. Realize that by
studying history, we situate ourselves nation, a necessary endeavor to be able to
It is high time study.
know more about our how we can help solve the problems of today and move
You may have taught inforward
the to
classroom in the story of the
identity and find out the
future.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

LESSON
Definition and Subject Matter
01
History has always been known as the study of the past. Students of general education often dread the subject
for its notoriety in requiring them to memorize dates, places, names, and events from distant eras. This low appreciation
of the discipline may be rooted from the shallow understanding of history’s relevance to their lives and to their respective
contexts. While the popular definition of history as the study of the past is not wrong, it does not give justice to the
complexity of the subject and its importance to human civilization.
History is derived from the Greek word historia which means “knowledge acquired through inquiry or
investigation” or “learning by inquiry.” History as a discipline existed for around 2,400 years and is as old as
mathematics and philosophy. This term was then adapted to classical Latin where it acquired a new definition. Historia
became known as the account of the past of a person or of a group of people through written documents and historical
evidences.
Individuals who write about history are called historians. They seek to understand the present by examining what
went before. They undertake arduous historical research to come up with a meaningful and organized rebuilding of the
past. It became the historian’s duty to write about the lives of important individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and
nobilities. There are theories constructed by historians in investigating history: the factual history and the speculative
history. Factual History presents readers the plain and basic information vis-à-vis the events that took place (what), the
time and date with which the events happened (when), the place with which the events took place (where), and the people
that were involved (who). Speculative history, on the other hand, goes beyond facts because it is concerned about the
reasons for which events happened (why), and the way they happened (how). “It tries to speculate on the cause and effect
of an event” (Cantal, Cardinal, Espino & Galindo, 2014).
History was also focused on writing about wars, revolutions and other important breakthroughs. It is thus
important to ask: WHAT COUNTS AS HISTORY? Traditional historians lived with the mantra of “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.
But as any other academic disciplines, history progressed and opened up to the possibility of valid historical
sources, which were not limited to written documents, like government records, chronicler’s accounts or personal letters.
History thus became more inclusive and started collaborating with other disciplines as its auxiliary disciplines
like the aid of archeologists, tracing historical evolutions of linguists, and even scientists like biologists and biochemist in
analyzing genetic and DNA patterns of human societies.

The Limitation of Historical Knowledge

The incompleteness of records has limited man’s knowledge of history. Most human affairs happen without
leaving any evidence or records of any kind, no artifacts, or if there are no further evidence of the human setting in which
to place surviving artifacts. Although it may have happened, but the past has perished forever with only occasional traces.
The whole history of the past (called history-as-actuality) can be known to a historian only through the surviving records
(history-as-record), and most of history-as-record is only a tiny part of the whole phenomenon. Even the archeological
and anthropological discoveries are only small parts discovered from the total past.
Historians study the records or evidences that survived the time. They tell history from what they understood as a
credible part of the record. However, their claims may remain variable as there can be historical records that could be
discovered, which may affirm or refute those that they have already presented. This explains the “incompleteness” of the
“object” that the historians study.

History as the Subjective Process of Re - Creation

From the incomplete evidence, historians strive to restore the total past of mankind. They do it from the point of
view that human beings live in different times and that their experiences maybe somehow comparable, or that their
experiences may have significantly differed contingent on the place and time. For the historian, history becomes only that
part of the human past which can be
meaningfully reconstructed from the available records and from inferences regarding their setting.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 02
In short, the historian’s aim is verisimilitude (the truth, authenticity, plausibility) about a past. Unlike the
study of the natural science that has objectively measurable phenomena, the study of history is a subjective process as
documents and relics are scattered and do not go together comprise the total object that the historian is studying.

Historical Method and Historiography

Indeed, history as a discipline has already turned into a complex and dynamic inquiry. This dynamism inevitably
produced various perspectives on the discipline regarding different questions like: What is History? Why study History?
And history is for whom? These questions can be answered by historiography. In simple terms, historiography is the
history of history. It is the imaginative reconstruction of the past from the data derived by historical method is called
historiography. The process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past is called
historical method.
Additional info. - Historiography is the practice of historical writing, the traditional method in doing historical
research that focus on gathering of documents from different libraries and archives to form a pool of evidence needed in
making a descriptive or analytical narrative.
Historical analysis is also an important element of historical method. In historical analysis, historians: (1) select
the subject to investigate; (2) collect probable sources of information on the subject; (3) examine the sources
genuineness, in part of in whole; and (4) extract credible “particulars” from the sources (or parts of sources). The
synthesis of the “particulars” thus derived is historiography. Synthesis and analysis cannot be entirely separated since
they have a common ground, which is the ability to understand the past through some meaningful, evocative and
convincing historical or cross-disciplinary connections between a given historical issue and other historical contexts,
periods, or themes.

Questions and Issues in History

History and historiography should not be confused with each other. 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 the
historical facts, but they are also provided with the understanding of the facts’ and the historian’s contexts. The methods
employed by the historian and the theory and perspective, which guided him, will also be analyzed. 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. States use history to unite a nation. It can be used as a tool to
legitimize regimes and forge a sense of collective identity through collective memory. Lessons from the past can be used
to make sense of the present.

• emerged between 18th and 19th century.

• requires empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that a particular
knowledge is true.
• entails an objective means of arriving at the conclusion. POSITIVISM
• the mantra “no document, no history” stems from the very same truth.
• Positivist historians are expected to be objective and impartial not just in their
arguments but also on their conduct of research.
As a narrative, any history that has been taught and written is always intended for a certain group of audience.
When the ilustrados, like Jose Rizal, Isabelo de los Reyes, and Pedro Paterno wrote history, they intended it for the
Spaniards so that they would realize that Filipinos are people of their own intellect and culture. When American
historians depicted the Filipino people as uncivilized in their publications, they intended that narrative for their fellow
Americans to justify their colonization of the islands. They wanted the colonization to appear not as a means of
undermining the Philippines’ sovereignty, but as a civilizing mission to fulfill what they called as the “white man’s
burden.” The same is true for nations which prescribe official versions of their history like North Korea, the Nazi
Germany during the war period, and Thailand. The same was attempted by Marcos in the Philippines during the 1970s.
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE 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 written 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 03 and
 the Imperial Japanese Army as the oppressors. Filipinos who collaborated with the Japanese were lumped in the category
of traitors or collaborators. However, a more thorough historical investigation will reveal a more nuanced account of the
history of that period instead of a simplified narrative as a story of hero versus villain.
• emerged in the early 20th century when formerly colonized nations grappled with the idea of
creating their identities and understanding their societies against the shadows of their
colonial past.

POST •nationlooks atthattwowillthingshighlightin writingtheir historyidentity: (1free) to tellfromthethathistoryof

colonialof their

COLONIALISM discourseand the ideaandofknowledge,colonialism.and (2) to criticize the methods, effects,

•A history that is therefore a reaction and an alternative to the colonial history that
colonial powers created and taught to their subjects.

History and the 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? Is history an objective discipline? If it is not, is it still worthwhile to study history?
These questions have haunted historians for many generations. Indeed, an exact and accurate account of the past
is impossible for the very simple reason that we cannot go back to the past. We cannot access the past directly as our
subject matter. Historians only get access representation of the past through historical sources and evidences.
Therefore, 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. Meanwhile, the historian is not a blank paper who mechanically interprets
and analyzes present historical fact. He 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. 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 in one way or another, history is always subjective. If that is so, can history still be considered as an
academic and scientific inquiry.
Historical research requires rigor. Despite the fact that the historians cannot ascertain absolute objectivity, the
study of history remains scientific because of the rigor of research and methodology that historians employ. Certain rules
apply in cases conflicting accounts in different sources as valid historical evidence. In doing so, historical claims done by
historians and the arguments that they forward in their historical writings, while may be influenced by the historian’s
inclinations, can still be validated by using reliable evidences and employing correct and meticulous historical
methodology.

• school of history born in France that challenged the canons of history.

THE •conductcommonofhistoricalstates andsubjectsmonarchswere. almost always related to the

ANNALES • Annales scholars advocated that the people and classes who were
SCHOOL OF not reflected in the history of the society in the grand manner be

HISTORY•providedAnnales thinkerswith spacemarriedin thehistoryrecordswithofothermankinddisciplines. like

geography,
anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics.

For example, if a historian chooses to use an oral account as his data in studying the ethnic history of the Ifugaos
in the Cordilleras during the American occupation, he needs to validate the claims of his informant through comparing
and corroborating it with written sources. Therefore, while bias is inevitable, the historian can balance this out by relying
to evidences that back up his claim. In this sense, the historian need not let his bias blind his judgement and such bias is
only acceptable if he maintains his rigor as a researcher.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 EXERCISE 1.1 04

Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:

Directions: Match the items in column A with the items in column B. Write the letter of the correct
answer on the space provided before each number.
A B
1. It is known as the accounts of the past of a person or of a
group of people through written documents and historical verisimilitude historia
evidences. A. factual history historical
2. It goes beyond the facts because it is concerned about the B. impartiality historiography
reasons for which events happened (why), and the way C. artifacts or documents
they happened D. limitation of historical
(how). E. knowledge
3. It presents readers the plain and F. speculative history
basic information vis-à-vis the events that took place with G.
which the events took place, and
the people that were involved (who). H.
I. historical method
4. Individuals who write about history are called
J. historical analysis
______________.
K. history as actuality
5. It is the process of critically examining and
J. historians
analyzing the records and survivals of the past.
K. theoretical history
6. Historian’s ability to reconstruct historical events.
J. Positivism
7. This is the school of thought that emerged
J. Postcolonialism

maybe written .
9. Historians aim of searching
authenticity and plausibility .
10. Incompleteness of records has limited man’s
knowledge of history .

EXERCISE 1.2

Name:
Course & Year:

between eighteenth and nineteenth century. This thought

requires empirical and observable evidence before one
can claim that a particular knowledge is true.
8. These are raw materials out of which history
 the truth,

Date:
Score:

Direction: Give a concise explanation or discussion on the following items.

1. How important historical writings are to a person, group/race, and country? Explain.

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READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

2. How do you give meaning to a so called “history”? Explain.

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3. Differentiate History from Historiography.

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4. Do you agree that the narrative of the past is always written from the bias of the powerful and the more
dominant player? If yes/no, Why?
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
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LESSON 02

Sources of Historical Data

ASSIGNMENT

In a one whole sheet of yellow paper, answer items written below. Also, write your Name, the Date and
Course, Year and Block, the Name of the Subject- Readings in Philippine History. on this page before passing the
Attach the Assignment module.

● What are historical data? Why is it important in studying the past?

● Give at least 2 categories of written sources of history, its meaning and an example (each). non-written sources
● Give the 2 types of of history, its meaning and an example (each).

06
HISTORICAL DATA are sourced from artifacts that have been left by the past. These artifacts can either be
relics or remains, or the testimonies of witnesses to the past. Thus, historical sources are those materials from which the
historians construct meaning. To rearticulate, a source is an object from the past or a testimony concerning the past on
which historians depend to create their own depiction of that past. A historical work or interpretation is thus the result of
such depiction. The source provides evidence about the existence of an event; and a historical interpretation is an
argument about the event.
Relics or “remains,” whose existence offer researchers a clue about the past. For example, the relics ore remains
of a prehistoric settlement. Artifacts can be found where relics of human happenings can be found, for example, a
potsherd, a coin, a ruin, a manuscript, a book, a portrait, a stamp, a piece of wreckage, a strand of hair, or other
archeological or anthropological remains. These objects, however, are never the happenings or the events; if written
documents, they may be the results or the records of events. Whether artifacts or documents, they are materials out of
which history may be written (Howell and Prevenier, 2001)
Testimonies of witnesses, whether oral or written, may have been created to serve as records or they might have
been created for some other purposes. All of theses describe an event, such as the record of a property exchange,
speeches, and commentaries.
The historian deals with the dynamic or genetic (the becoming) as well as the static (the being) and the aims at
being interpretative (explaining why and how things happened and were interrelated) as well as descriptive (telling what
happened, when and where, and who took part). Besides, such descriptive data as can be derived directly and
 immediately from surviving artifacts are only small parts of the periods to which they belong. A historical context can be
given to them only if they can be placed in a human setting. The lives of the human beings can be assumed from the
retrieved artifacts, but without further evidence the human contexts of these artifacts can never be recaptured with any
degree of certainty.

Written Sources of History

Written sources are usually categorized in three ways: (1) narrative or literary, (2) diplomatic or juridical, and (3)
social documents.
1. Narrative or literature are chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form, written to impart a message whose
motives for their composition vary widely. For example, a scientific tract is typically composed in order to inform
contemporaries or succeeding generations; a newspaper article might be intended to shape opinion; the so-called ego
document or personal narrative such as a diary or memoir might be composed in order to persuade readers of the justice
of the author’s actions; a novel or film might be made to entertain, to deliver a moral teaching, or to further a religious
cause; a biography might be written in praise of the subject’s worth and achievements (a panegyric, a public speech or
published text in praise of someone or something or hagiography, the writing of the lives of saints). A narrative source is
therefore broader than what is usually considered fiction (Howell & Prevenier, 2001)
2. Diplomatic sources are understood to be those which document/record an existing legal situation or create a new
one, and it is these kinds of sources that professional historians once treated as the purest, the “best” source. The classic
diplomat source is the charter, which a legal instrument. A legal document is usually sealed or authenticated to provide
evidence that a legal transaction has been completed and can be used as an evidence in a judicial proceeding in case of
dispute. Scholars differentiate those legal instruments issued by public authorities (such as kings or popes, the Supreme
Court of the Philippines and the Philippine Congress) from those involving only private parties (such as will or a
mortgage agreement). Diplomatic sources possess specific formal properties, such as hand and print style, the ink, the
seal, for external properties and rhetorical devices and images for internal properties, which are determined by the norms
of laws and by tradition. Such characters also vary in time (each generation has its own norms) and according to origin
(each bureaucracy has its own traditions).
3. Social documents are information pertaining to economic, social, political, or judicial significance. They are
records kept by bureaucracies. A few examples are government reports, such as municipal accounts, research findings,
and documents like these parliamentary procedures, civil registry records, property registers, and records of census.
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Non- Written Sources of History

07
Unwritten sources are as essential as written sources. They are two types: the material evidence and oral
evidence.
1. Material evidence, also known as archeological evidence is one of the most important unwritten evidences. This
include artistic creations such as pottery, jewelry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads, and others that tell a story about the
past. These artifacts can tell a great deal about the ways of life of people in the past, and their culture. These artifacts can
also reveal a great deal about the socio-cultural interconnections of the different groups of people especially when an
object is unearthed in more one place. Commercial exchange may also be revealed by the presence of artifacts in
different places. Even places that are thought to be insignificant, such as garbage pits, can provide valuable information
to historians as these can be traces of a former settlement.
Sometimes, archeological sites that are of interest to historians are unearthed during excavations for roads, sewer
lines, and big building structures. Known historical sites are purposely excavated with the hope of reconstructing and
understanding their meaningful past. Moreover, archeological finds such as coins or monies can provide historians with
significant information relating to government transactions during which the currencies were in circulation. Similarly,
historians can get substantial information from drawings, etchings, paintings, films, and photographs. These are the visual
representations of the past.
2. Oral evidence is also an important source of information for historians. Much are told by the tales or sagas of
ancient people and the folk songs or popular rituals from the pre-modern period

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

of Philippine history . During the present age, interviews is another major form of oral evidence .

EXERCISE 1.3
Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:

Direction: Encircle the letter of the correct answer from the following choices.

1. These are sourced from artifacts that have been left by the past. These are also the materials from which the
historians construct meaning.
a. primary data c. historical data
b. static data d. interpretative data
2. This evidence is considered as material evidence.
a. recordings c. books
b. archeological d. diaries
3. Historians consider these sources as document/record and existing legal situation as the best source
a. relic c. oral sources
b. remains d. diplomatic sources
4. There existence offer researchers a clue about the past. These objects, however, are never the happenings or
the events; if written documents, they may be the results or the records of events.
a. protocol c. relics
b. eschatocol d. testimonies
5. Whether oral or written, they may have been created to serve as records or they might have been created for
some other purpose, such as the record of a property exchange, speeches, and commentaries.
a. testimonies of witnesses c. documents of witnesses
b. remains of witnesses d. evidences of witnesses

ASSIGNMENT
In a one half crosswise (yellow paper), give the general types of historical sources, its
definition and an example of each type. Also, write your Name, Course, Year and Block, the Date
and the Name of the Subject- Readings in Philippine History. Attach the Assignment on this page before passing the
module.
 LESSON 03
08
PRE- TEST EXAM
Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:

Direction: Write true if the statement is true. Otherwise, write false in the space provided.

_________ 1. Only primary sources may be used in writing history.

_________ 2. In general, there are three types of sources: primary, secondary and tertiary.
_________ 3. Primary sources are those sources, which are produced by an author who used secondary sources to
produce the material.
_________ 4. Both primary and secondary sources are useful in writing and learning history. _________ 5. The
historians are the only source of history.

Primary and Secondary Sources

With the past as history’s subject matter, the historian’s most important research tools are historical sources. In
general, historical sources can be classified between primary and secondary sources. The classification of sources
between these two categories depends on the historical subject being studied.
1. Primary Sources are those sources produced at the same time as the event, period, or subject being studied.
These sources are original and factual not interpretative. Examples are diaries, journals, letters, newspapers and
magazine articles, photographs, interviews, postcards, posters, speeches. If a historian wishes to study the
Commonwealth Constitution Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include the minutes of convention, newspaper
clippings, Philippine Commission reports of U.S. Commissioners, records of the convention, draft of the Constitution,
and even photographs of the event. Eyewitness accounts of convention delegates and their memoirs can also be used as
primary sources.
2. 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. 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 eighteenth century while Agoncillo published his work in 1956, which makes the Revolt of the
Masses a secondary source. 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 the correspondence between and among
Katipuneros.
However, a student should not be confused about what counts as a primary and secondary source. As mentioned
above, the classification of sources between primary and secondary depends not on the period when the source was
produced or type of the source but on the subject of the historical research. For example, a textbook is usually classified
as a secondary source, a tertiary source even. However, this classification is usual but nit automatic. 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.

External and Internal Criticism

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. The historian should be able to conduct an external and internal criticism of the source, especially
primary sources which can age in centuries.
1. External Criticism is the practice of verifying the authenticity of evidence by examining its physical characteristics;
consistency with the historical characteristic of the time when it was produced; and the materials used for evidence.

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 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 materials, among others.
2. Internal Criticism, on the other hand, is the examination of the truthfulness of the 09 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. 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 war propaganda.
Validating historical sources is important because the use of unverified, 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.
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. The document was
sold to the National Library and was regarded as an important precolonial document until 1986, 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. 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’ claims with the war records of the
United States. These cases prove how deceptions can propagate without rigorous historical research.
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 he is studying. History, like other academic discipline, has come a long way but still
has a lot of remaining tasks to do. It does not claim to render absolute and exact judgement because as long as questions
are continuously asked, and as long as time unfolds, the study of history can never be compete. The task of the historian is
to organize that past that is being created so that it can offer lessons for nations, societies, and civilization, 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.

Philippine historiography underwent several changes since the precolonial period until the present. Ancient
Filipinos narrated their history through communal sons and epics that they passed orally from a generation to another.
When the Spaniards, their chroniclers started recording their observations through written accounts. The perspective of
historical writing and inquiry has 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. Early nationalists refuted this perspective and argued the tripartite view. 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. Filipino historians Zeus Salazar
introduced the new guiding philosophy for writing and teaching history: pantayong 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 understood by everyone.

EXERCISE 1.4

Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:

Direction: In Give a concise explanation/discussion on the following items.

1. What are the benefits of using primary sources?

2. Do you affirm that primary sources are superior to secondary sources? Explain.
3. Give at least one (1) advantage and one (1) disadvantage of accessing secondary sources.

Answer sheet for Exercise 1.4

10

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

 EXERCISE 1.5
11
Name: Date:
Course & Year: Score:

Direction: Direction: Read the following scenarios and classify the sources discovered as
primary, secondary or tertiary sources. Write your answer on 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 the nineteenth century. In one of the books, he saw an old photograph of a woman standing in
front of an old church, clipped among the 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 class
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 life and works.
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 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 brought 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 a tertiary source?
___________________________________________________________
5. Gregoria loved to travel the country. She liked bringing with her a 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 the pictures of destinations visited by the tourists and a few basic information about
the place like the origin of the name, the historical signifance of the place, and some other information
acquired by the office’s researchers and writers.
Is the textbook a primary, secondary, or a tertiary source?
___________________________________________________________

CHAPTER EXAM

My Primary Source, My Life History. Using the examples of a primary source in this
chapter, choose a primary source that can be used in writing your life history and while telling
your story, you will also discuss how it (chosen primary source) qualifies as a primary source .
The Rubrics and Criteria for this will be sent to you online by your instructor .

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READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY