important notes on philippine history

8/9/2019 Important Notes on Philippine History

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CHAPTER 1 Knowing Philippine History

1. Understanding History

It is by the possession and transmission of a !lt!re that man di"ers from theother animals# and the $rst !lt!re began with the $rst !lt!re began with hthabit!al !se of tools arti !late spee h %P!lmer# ed.1&'()1'*. +or some writers li,e-i , oa/!in# History as !lt!re is not merely a hronologi al re onstr! tion of thepast nor an analyti al interpretation of past e0ents# b!t a pro ess of reation or aformation of !lt!re# spe i$ ally a national !lt!re.2

In its broadest meaning# history is the st!dy of past e0ents. It generallypresents the ,nown past. 3hat is !n,nown is yet to be retrie0ed. The re ording andanalysis of e4perien es of a so iety omprise the totally of a people5s history.

In analy6ing history# the !se of orre lated dis iplines is ne essary to!nderstand the reasons and onse/!en es of h!man a tions. 7y referring tophilosophies of history# the theories of some great thin,ers sho!ld be onsidered. Inthe in0estigation and interpretation of the past# these theories o!ld e4plain howand why e0ents happen in so ieties.

Arnold Toynbee5s challenge and response theory is base8d on the ideathat man responds to the sit!ation pla ed before him. His a tions are based on histho!ghts. Th!s# the so iety5s way of fa ing the hallenges depending !pon itsapabilities !n o0ers the pattern of the so iety5s history. 9an,ind5s approa h inoping with hallenges determines history.

The 1:;0ol!me series of A st!dy of history %1&


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The preser0ation of the man5s material e/!ipment is another hallenge thatpeople ha0e to fa e. C!lt!ral artifa ts made of wood# bar,s of trees# and otherorgani materials de ompose more rapidly in hot in h!mid regions. 9any of theob?e ts behind 0y an ient so ieties are no lo@nger e4isting as part of ar heoligio alre ord be a!se they ha0e disintegrated o0er time. This predi ament gi0es an

in omplete 0iew of the past. The rersponse in l!de 0ario!s ,inds of information andte hni/!es on how to preser0e the material lega y of an ient past. ome of themare best ,ept in their original sites li,e a0es that wre !sed for habitation in thepast. 3hile# items s! h as potsherds %small fragments of pottery*# de0i es made of the stone# metal# bones# and teeth % o0ered with hard enamel* an most li,elys!r0i0e and be presently ,nown and retrie0ed thro!gh the !ntiring e"orts of ar haeologists.

In the str!ggle of da!ntless +ilipinos to regain the lost rights and freedomd!ring the panish era# the propagandists and re0ol!tionaries responded to olonialoppression by resisting. The hallenge was posed by the olonial s!b?!gation of the+ilipinos# generally hara teri6ed by in?!sti e and orr!ption. The response wasde$an e to the pre0ailing r!le.

9an5s a tions are notr ?!st in0ol!ntary mo0ements espe ially when timeallows himto plan his ne4t a tion. These responses pass thro!gh the pro ess of reasoning and analysis. Bften# he deals with other people to dis !ss on how toanswer a ertain sit!ation.

Asso iated with the aforementioned premises# the e4 hanged theory of Al0ina" may be aref!lly tho!gh abo!t. His e4 hange theory refers to the systemati

statement of prin iples that go0ern the e4 hange of goods %tangible goods li,eproperty or money and tangible gods li,e pea e or prestige* between indi0id!als#between gro!ps# between organi6ations# and e0en between nations. This is basedon thwe idea of re ipro a ity. Allian es of people# omm!nitiesa as well as nationsare rooted in the idea of inter hange.

There are some moti0ational for es fo!nd in the so iety a"e ting the a tionsof people in0ol0ed in the sit!ation . A ase in point is the barter system# !sed inb!siness transa tions be a!se there was no !rren y d!ring those days. Asidefrom domesti trading e4isting amongt the barangays and the islands# early+ilipinos also engaged in foreign trade with China# apan# iam%now

Thailand*#7orneo !matra#Cambodia# and other islands of old 9alaysia.

Another e4ample in relation to this theory# 9rs. Cora6on Cory5 A/!ino# wife of the slain opposition leader# was hosen as the presidential standard bearer amidsthigh e4pe tations that she wo!ld free all politi al prisoners# abolish ensorship of the media# and instit!te legal pro eedings to re o0er ill;gotten wealth ta,en byorr!pt p!bli ser0ants on e ele ted into oD e.


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+or eorg 3ilhelm Hegel %1FF@;1G


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ho!ses for shelter. E0en if they want to onsider the a0ailability of reso!r es# theb!dget of the lients# and the b!ilding site# to name a few. +!rthermore# theintrod! tion of new te hnology literally transforms so ieties and thereby# history.

In the 7ra!dellian approa h# to a hie0e total hisy tory2 is to integrate all aspe ts of

man5s past. This in0ol0es the st!dy of history in its total 0iew made possible bye4amining the ir !mstan es !nderlying s! h politi al# e onomi # so ial# and!lt!ral e0ents.

The pioneers of Philippine nationalist historiography generally wrote in panish# ando asionally# in Tagalog. The gro!p in pain in l!ded the +ilipino propagandists oseP. Ri6al# 9ar elo H. del Pilar# ra iano ope6 aena# as well as Pedro Paterno# TJHJPardo de Ta0era# regorio an ian o y o6on# and among others.

+or Ri6al# history o"ers the ,ey to national identity and the basis for f!t!rede0elopment. In his writings# he !sed history to show !ni/!ely +ilipino !lt!re# onewhi h e0ol0ed thro!gh ent!ries of onta t with other Asians. He edited r. Antoniode 9orga5s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. His annotations of Sucesos was his ma?orhistori al wor,. He depi ted the destr! ti0e e"e ts of western oloni6ation on early+ilipino so ieties.

Teodoro Agon illo %1&1:;1&G(* is onsidered as the father of +ilipinonationalist historiography. He wrote the onditions of the Philippine past byanaly6ing the onditions of the masses. His e"orts in rewriting history li,e otherontemporary historians were rea tions to the traditional presentations of Philippinehistory# being olonial and elitist.

Philippine history is a people5s history. As de$ned by Renato Constantino#history is the re orded str!ggle of people for e0er in reasing freedom and fornewer and higher reali6ation of the h!man person.2 It is not abo!t the story of manas the indi0id!al# b!t man as the asso iated man. 9an intera ts with nat!re andwith other men# th!s# ons io!sly hanging his own perspe ti0e and to somee4tent# the system of en0ironment.

7ased on Constantino5s s!pposition that Philippine history is a story of str!ggle#2 the st!dy has to be reassessed with a nationalist perspe ti0e in theinterest of ob?e ti0ity. This is to allow the modern +ilipino to form a lear pi t!re of his an estors5 onditions and sentiments form the point of 0iew of +ilipino writers to

orre t some histori al impressions made by olonial historiography tending tora ial bias.

History is not merely the wor, of heroes and great men as el! idated byConstantino in his boo,# The Philippines: A Past Re isited . He pointed o!t that themasses of indi0id!als as well as the so ial for es generated by olle ti0e li0es andstr!ggles ha0e to be in l!ded. 9en m!st str!ggle together to s!r0i0e the e4igen ies


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of nat!ral or so ial for es inter0ening their de0elopment. The asso iated man# aspart the so iety ma,es history thro!gh his olle ti0e li0es.

Constantino f!rther mentioned that history is not ne essarily presenting along# !nbro,en hain of e0ents. It ill!strates mo0ement of people and ideas o0er

time and spa e. They may e0en be in on=i t with one another. It is now the tas, of the historian to wea0e parti !lar e0ents into a total 0iew so that these e4perien esan be s!mmed !p and analy6ed.

Howe0er# for 3ilhelm ilthey %1GG

important notes on philippine history

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