History: Readings in Philippine
History: Readings in Philippine
History: Readings in Philippine
Readings in Philippine
History
First Semester
2021 - 2022
MODULE 1
JUDITH L. ROY, MAFIL
Associate Professor II
DISCLAIMER
This module is a compilation of the
works from internet sources, manuals,
and books from different authors and will
be used for educational purposes only.
RETSY T. MALONG
Focal Person
Members:
Michael Anthony U.
ArrezaMyrna T. Alferez
Ryan L. Oranza
Lowelyn O. Quezada
Edrick Ray S. Santa Maria
Bernard D. Yu
PHILOSOPHY
SDSSU believes that higher education is an instrument for the
improvement of life through democratized access to quality education in
the development of a well-rounded person.
GE – RPH – Readings in the Philippine History
Module 1 Page 1
VISION
A leading “Glocal” University with widened academic perspectives
that focus on attaining food security supporting poverty alleviation,
developing renewable energy, and conserving natural environment.
MISSION
SDSSU shall provide competency-based higher education training
driven by relevant and responsive instruction, research, extension and
sustainable resource management.
Particularly, SDSSU is committed to:
1. Produce competent and skilled graduates prepared for gainful
employment;
2. Develop graduates who shall not only foster economic progress but
also care for the environment, adhere to positive values system, and
preserve cultural heritage.
3. Engage in high-impact research for instruction and develop technology
for food security and renewable energy;
4. Collaborate with government and non-government agencies to help
improve the lives of the marginalized groups; and
5. Promote cooperation/partnership among regional, national, and ASEAN
institutions in Higher Education.
CORE VALUES
Competence: A Combination of observable and measurable knowledge,
skills, abilities, and personal attributes that contribute to
enhance SDSSU employee and student performance and
ultimately result in organizational success.
Accountability: Responsibility for own actions, decisions and
commitment to accomplish work in an ethical, efficient, cost-
effective and transparent manner manifesting the value of
sound stewardship in the wise use for resources for common
good.
Responsiveness: A prompt action, consist communication, quality
information, and a focus on providing a superior experience to
stakeholders.
Excellence: The quality spectrum at exceptional levels demonstrated by
learning outcomes and the development of shared culture of
quality consistent with the vision, mission.
Service: Dedication for a continuous improvement of services,
stakeholder’s relationships and partnership which stresses
Interdependence and collaboration for a sustainable success
of clients and their communities in helping build a just,
peaceful, stable and progressive Filipino nation.
SDSSU CARES...
These core values are not descriptions of the work we do, nor the
strategies we employ to accomplish our university vision. They are the
core values that underline our works and interactions as we internalize
GE – RPH – Readings in the Philippine History
Module 1 Page 2
responsibilities to fulfill our mission. They are the basic elements of how
we go about our work and how we deal with stakeholders, molds students
to become competent, innovative, globally competitive and service-
oriented.
Goals:
These are the specific goals in the four (4) – fold functions of the
University:
KRA 3. Extension - Empower the rural poor to improve their lives through
transfer of technologies and knowledge.
Examination - 40%
Requirement/Project - 20%
100%
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, the students would be able to:
Knowledge
1. Evaluate primary sources for their credibility, authenticity
and provenance.
2. Analyze the context, content and perspective of different
kinds of primary sources.
3. Determine the contribution of different kinds of primary
sources in understanding Philippine history.
Skills
1. Develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary
sources.
2. Demonstrate the ability to use primary sources to argue in
favor or against a particular issue.
Values
1. Effectively communicate, using various techniques and
genres, their historical analysis of a particular event or issue
that could help others understand the chosen topic.
2. Propose recommendations/solutions to present – day
problems based on their understanding of root causes and
their anticipation of future scenarios.
3. Manifest interest in local history and concern in promoting
and preserving our country’s national patrimony and culture
heritage.
COURSE OUTLINE
COURSE CONTENT/SUBJECT MATTER
Module Overview
What’s Inside?
Module Overview
An Introduction to History
Content and Contextual Analysis of Selected Primary Sources in Philippine History
Philippine
GE – RPH – ReadingsHistory: Spaces
in the Philippine for Conflict and Controversies
History
ModuleSocial,
1 Political, Economic, and Cultural Issues in Philippine History Page 5
In this module, you will learn about the different concepts related to Philippine
history. Aside from that, you will gain insights between the distinction of
primary and secondary sources as part of analyzing the content of the
documents. Lastly, this will also give you the impression that past generations
tell us a valuable lesson.
Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you should be able:
Introduction
This lesson provides learning in history as an academic discipline. It
contains definition, methodology and other philosophies of history that are
fundamentally needed in studying the lesson. You will also answer activities in
order to assess your learning. This lesson hopefully develops your skills in a
learning process that is both fun and exciting.
Activity
When you hear the word HISTORY what comes to your mind?
What are the words you think associated with history? Write your answers in the diagram below.
You may produce more bubbles if you have additional idea. (10pts)
How are those words you wrote in the bubbles related to history?
(5pts)
Analysis
• Based on the activity, can you define history? (5pts)
Abstraction
Meaning of History
Gottschalk (1969) suggests that culture has developed from its present connotation.
Etymologically, history has been taken from the Greek word iotopia, meaning "learning."
Nowadays the term connotes past events.
Dr. Zeus Salazar defined history as “mga pangyayari na may saysay para sa grupo ng taong
sinasaysayan nito” (2000; Rosales, 2020).
History as described by a foreign scholar is the record of what an era in another considers
worthy of notice.
History, as Medina defines it, is not just the past but also the present and the future. Past is
projection forwards. It is a construction of a potential existence in society. The writing of
history for these writers is a political undertaking.
For Keith Jenkins, it's a type of power in which the course of past agreement is debated.
Samuel Tan, a prominent historian, defined history as the dynamic process of dealing with the
past, in which the stages or aspects of development are interrelated, brought about by an
understanding of the present and future.
This is an ongoing topic of a rather inquisitive mind. As Sterns says, history needs
to be learned because it is important to both culture and people because it allows us to
better understand ourselves, our talents, shortcomings and ambitions. Historical events
remind us of the people's collective experience, their suffering, their joy and their
aspirations. All those things serve as a glue to a nation's realization. With the
development of writing the study of history became possible.
General history covering political, cultural, diplomatic and military history, including
environmental issues and the economic system;
Cultural history which covers local and ethnic history, social history, and myth history;
Biologists and chemists are also valuable in history in the research and analysis of past
people 's genetic and DNA patterns
Questions and Issues in History
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 for whom? These questions can
be answered by historiography. The word historiography is etymologically derived from the
Greek word historia which means past and graphier which means to write (Rosales, 2020). In
short history is the “art of writing”.
Do not be confused with the two words of history and historiography. The former word is the
study about the past, the events that happened in the past, and the causes of such events. While
the latter word is history itself (i.e. how was a certain historical text written? Who wrote it? What
was the context of its publication? What was particular historical method was employed? What
were the sources used?).
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
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. Learning of the past mistakes can
help people to not repeat them. Being reminded of a great past can inspire people to keep their
good practices to move forward.
For so many years, Filipino historians became followers of a very rigid tradition in writing history
– a tradition based on positivism.
Positivism is the school of thought that emerged between the eighteenth and nineteenth century.
This thought requires empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that a particular
knowledge is true. Positivism also entails an objective means of arriving at a conclusion. In the
discipline of history, the mantra “no document, no history” stems from this very same truth,
where historians were required to show written primary documents in order to write a particular
historical narrative. Positivist historians are also expected to be objective and impartial not just in
their arguments but also on their conduct of historical research.
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 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 to 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 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?
Adapted from: Candelaria and Alporha (2018). Readings in Philippine History. Rex Book Store, Inc., Manila,
Philippines
Rosales et. Al., (2020). Understanding Philippine History: Readings and Discourse. Lorimar Publishing Inc.,Quezon
City, Manila, Philippines.
Historical research requires rigor. Despite the fact that historians cannot ascertain absolute
objectivity, 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. Certain rules apply in cases of conflicting accounts in different sources, and on how to
properly treat eyewitness accounts and oral 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.
Adapted from: Candelaria and Alporha (2018). Readings in Philippine History. Rex Book Store, Inc., Manila,
Philippines
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 judgment and such bias is only
acceptable if he maintains his rigor as a researcher.
Historical 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.
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. Commissioners, records of the convention,
the 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. The same goes with
other subjects of historical study. Archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census, and
government records, among others are the most common examples of primary sources.
On the other hand, 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 nineteenth 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 correspondence between and among Katipuneros.
However, a student should not be confused about what counts as a primary or a secondary source.
As mentioned above, 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. For example, a textbook is usually classified as a secondary source, a tertiary
source even. However, this classification is usual but not automatic. 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.
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.
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 the evidence. 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.
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. 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 resources 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 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.
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 claims, 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 research.
Application
Define in your own words the meaning of history. (5pts)
Task 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7VbTrjuihA
https://joylez.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/golden-tara-ng-agusan.jpg
https://umb.libguides.com/PrimarySources/secondary
https://www.rexestore.com/1898-thickbox_default/textbook- on-the-
philippine-constitution.jpg
Write a documentary history of your life based on the following topics: 20pts-
Task 4 (16pts essay,4pts attachments of primary source)
Note: Choose only one (1) and attach a copy of primary source you used when you submit your output
Congratulations, well done! You have just finished the seven (3) tasks of this module.
Now if you are ready, please proceed to Lesson 2.
References:
Books
Candelaria and Alporha (2018). Readings in Philippine History. Rex Book Store, Inc.,
Manila, Philippines
Rosales et. Al., (2020). Understanding Philippine History: Readings and Discourse.
Lorimar Publishing Inc.,Quezon City, Manila, Philippines.
Web Sites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7VbTrjuihA
https://joylez.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/golden-tara-ng-agusan.jpg
https://umb.libguides.com/PrimarySources/secondary
https://www.ccd.edu/download/file/fid/16929