An Introduction to Philippine Historiography: Sources and Discourses

Neil Martial R. Santillan, Ph.D

History deals with the study of past events. 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 reconstruction of the
past. But whose past are we talking about? This is a basic question that a historian needs to
answer because this sets the purpose and framework of a historical account. Hence, a salient
feature of historical writing is the facility to give meaning and impart value to a particular group
of people about their past. The practice of historical writing is called historiography. Traditional
method in doing historical research focuses on gathering of documents from different libraries
and archives to form a pool of evidence needed in making a descriptive or analytical narrative.
However, modern historical writing does not only include examination of documents but also the
use of research methods from related areas of study such as archaeology and geography.
Sources of History
Basic to historical research is utilization of sources. There are diverse sources of history
including documentary sources or documents, archaeological records, and oral and video
accounts.
To date, most of our historical sources are documents. These refer to handwritten, printed,
drawn, designed, and other composed materials. These include books, newspapers, magazines,
journals, maps, architectural perspectives, paintings, advertisements, and photographs. Colonial
records such as government reports and legal documents form a significant part of our
collection of
documents here and abroad, particularly in Spain and the United States. In the 20th century and
up to now, memoirs or personal accounts written by important historical personages constitute
another type of documents. Philippine presidents such as Emilio Aguinaldo, Manuel Quezon, and
Diosdado Macapagal wrote their memoirs to highlight their roles as nation-builders.

On the other hand, archaeological records refer to preserved remains of human beings,
their activitus, and the environment where they lived. In the Philippines, the most significant
excavated human remains include the Callao Man's toe bone (dated 67 000 BCE) and the Tabon
Man's skullcap (22 000 BCE). Aside from human remains, other archaeological records are
generally categorized as fossils and artifacts. Fossils are remains of animals, plants, and other
organisms from the distant past, while artifacts are remnants of material culture developed by
human beings. These include clothing, farm implements, jewelry, pottery and stone tools.
Oral and video accounts form the third kind of historical source. These are audio-visual
documentation of people, events, and places. These are usually recorded in video and audio
cassettes, and compact discs. Aside from scholars, medin people also use oral and video
accounts as
part of their news and public affairs work.

Primary and Secondary Sources

There are two general kinds of historical sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources
refer to documents, physical objects, and oral/video accounts made by an individual or a group
present at the time and place being described. These materials provide facts from people who
actually witnessed the event. Secondary sources, on the other hand, are materials made by
people long after the events being described had taken place.

Most historical narratives today are so reliant on documentary sources due to the plethora of
written records and the lack of archaeological records and oral/video mumoirs.
Although having several documents about an event allows for easier counterchecking of facts.
history researchers are confronted with one basic challenge with regard primary sources--their
ability to read and understand texts in foreign languages.
Many of our untapped archival documents here and abroad are written in Spanish. A good
knowledge of Spanish is a huge advantage. But this skill is unusual among today's historians
who
prefer to read translations of Spanish texts such as the 55-volume The Philippine Islands, 1493-
1898 (1903-1909) edited by Emma Blair and James Robertson, which is the most cited
collection
of primary sources about the Philippines before the advent of the American colonial regime. The
collection includes translations of portions of 16th-century chronicles such as Antonio
Pigafetta's
Primo Viaggio intorno al mundo (1524), Miguel Loarca's Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas (1582),
and Juan de Plasencia's Relacion de las Islas Philipinas (1592).
Filipino historians, such as the father-daughter tandem of Gregorio Zaide and Sonia Zaide,
have also compiled and translated colonial documents. They published the 10-volume
Documentary
Sources of Philippine History (1994).
Aside from reading the Spanish original documents or translated works, another daunting
task for Filipino historians is to discern the cultural context and historical value of primary
sources because most of these primary documents were written by colonialists and reflected
Western cultural frames. For examples, derogatory terms used to label Filipinos such as "pagan,"
"uncivilized," "wild," and "savage" abound in these colonial documents. Uncoverring myths
and misconceptions about Filipino cultural identity propagated by the Spanish and American
colonizers is extra challenging for contemporary Filipino scholars.
If the key function of primary source documents is to give facts, secondary source documents,
on the other hand, provide valuable interpretations of historical events. The works of eminent
historians such as Teodoro Agoncillo and Renato Constantino are good examples of secondary
sources. In his interpretation of the Philippine Revolution, Agoncillo divided the revolution into
two phases: the first phase covers the years from the start of the revolution in August 1896 to
the flight of Emilio Aguinaldo and company to Hong Kong as a result of the Pact of Biak-na-
Bato, while the second phase spans from Aguinaldo's return to Manila from Hong Kong until his
surrender to the Americans in March 1901.
However, Constantino refuted Agoncillo's leader-centric scheme of dividing the revolution into
two phases by stressing that Agoncillo's viewpoint implied that the revolutioni came to a halt
when
Aguinaldo left the country. Constantino disputed the soundness of Agoncillo's two-phase
scheme
by asserting that the war of independence continued even without Aguinaldo's presence in the
country,
Aside from the issue on Philippine Revolution, there are other contending issues in Philippine
history such as the venue of the first Christian mass in the country and the question of who
deserves to be named national hero. By and large, interpretations serve as tools of discernment
for readers of historical sources, but they should be cautious of frames of analysis used for
biased,
discriminatory, and self-serving ends.

Historieal Criticism
Many documents have primary and secondary segments. For instance, examining a newspaper
as a historical source entails a discerning mind to identify its primary and secondary
components.
A news item written by a witness of an event is considered as a primary source, while a feature
article is usually considered as a secondary material. Similarly, a book published a long time
ago does not necessarily renderit as a primary source. It requires a meticulous reading of the
document to know its origin.
To ascertain the authenticity and reliability of primary sources to be used in crafting a
narrative, a historian needs to employ two levels of historical criticism, namely, external criticism
and internal criticism. External criticism answers concerns and questions pertinent to the
authenticity of a historical source by identifying who composed the historical material, locating
when and where the historical material was produced, and establishing the material's evidential
value.
Internal criticism, on the other hand, deals with the credibility and reliability of the content
of a given historical source. This kind of criticism focuses on understanding the substance and
message that the historical material wants to convey by examining how the author frame the
intent and meaning of a composed material,
Locating Primary Sources
There are substantial primary sources about the Philippines here and abroad. In the country,
government institutions such as the National Library and the National Archives are major
repositories of documentary sources.
The National Library has complete microfilm copies of the Philippine Revolutionary
Records (1896-1901), a compilation of captured documents of Emilio Aguinaldo's revolutionary
government, and Historical Data Papers (1952-1953), a collection of “history and cultural life"
of all towns in the country spearheaded by public school teachers during President Elpidio
Quirino's term. The Manuscripts Section of the National Library's Filipiniana Division contains
the presidential papers pf different administrations from Manuel Quezon to Joseph Ejercito.
Search aids such as the “Checklist of Rare Filipiniana Serials (1811-1914)," "Filipiniana Serials
in Microfilm," and several registers of Philippine presidential papers are provided for faster and
easier way to look for historical materials.
The National Archives, on the other hand, holds a substantial collection of catalogued
and uncatalogued Spanish documents about the Philippines composed from 1552 to 1900.
These consist of 432 document categories such as Administracion Central de Rentas y
Propiedades (Central Administration of Rentals and Properties), Administracion de Hacienda
Publica (Administration of Public Finance), Aduana de Manile (Customs Office of Manila),
Almacenes Generales (General Stores), Asuntos Criminales (Criminal Matters), Ayuntamiento
de Manila (Town Council of Manila), Colera (Cholera), Padron General de Chinos (General
Register of Chinese), and Presos (Prisoners). For local historians, valuable materials from the
National Archives Include Cabezas de Barangay (Heads of Barangay), Ereccion de los Pueblos
Establishment of Towns), Guid Oficial (Official Guide), and Memorias (Official Reports of
Provincial Governors), Aside from Spanish sources, the National Archives is also the repository
of 20th-century documents such as civil records, notarial documents, and Japanese wartime
crime records. There are also some sources written in Tagalog such as the documents pertinent
to
Apolinario de la Cruz, the leader of the Confradia de San Jose in the 19th century.
Academic institutions such as the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Ateneo de
Manila University in Quezon City, University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Silliman University
in Dumaguete City, and University of San Carlos in Cebu City have also substantial library and
archival holdings. The Media Services Section of the UP Main Library has inicrofilm copies of
Philippine Radical Papers, a compilation of documents relevant to the Partido Komunista ng
Pilipinas (PKP) and its allied organizations as well as People's Court Proceedings, a collection of
court proceedings
against Filipino leaders who cooperated with the Japanese during their short-
lived occupation. The Ateneo de Manila's Rizal Library houses the American Historical Collection
that consists of vital documents relevant to the American experience such as the Reports of the
Philippine Commission (1901-1909), Annual Reports of the Governors-General of the Philippine
Islands (1916-1935), and records of the Philippine legislature from 1907 to 1934.
Privately owned museums and archives, such as the Ayala Museum in Makati and Lopez
Museum in Pasig City, have also considerable historical resources. Religious congregations such
as
the Augustinians, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Recollects also have extensive archival holdings that
remain untapped.
Outside the Philippines, there are several documents about the country found in Spain and
the United States. The bulk of Spanish documents are found at the Archivo General de Indias in
Sevilla, Spain. Important American sources are available at the Manuscript Division of the United
States Library of Congress, Harvard University's Houghton Library, United States National
Archives, and the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library.
In this age of Internet, there are open access online archives on Filipino history and culture,
such as the extensive digital Filipiniana collection of the University of Michigan, which consists
of
manuscripts and photographs of the early part of 20th-century Philippines. Another rich online
source of primary documents is the University of Illinois at Chicago Field Museum. It houses the
extensive photographic collection of Dean Worcester, the secretary of Interior of the American
colonial government in the country from 1901 to 1913.
Colonial Historiography
Philippine historiography has changed significantly since the 20th century. For a long time,
Spanish colonizers presented our history in two parts: a period of darkness or backwardness
before
they arrived and a consequent period of advancement or enlightenment when they came,
Spanish chroniclers wrote a lot about the Philippines but their historical accounts emphasized
the primacy of colonization to liberate Filipinos from their backward "barbarie" lifeways. In the
same manner, American colonial writers also shared the same worldview of their predecessors
by rationalizing their colonization of Filipinos as a way to teach the natives the "civilized
lifestyle" which they said the Spaniards forgot to impart including personal hygiene and public
administration. Colonial narratives have portrayed Filipinos as a people bereft of an advanced
culture and a respectable history. This perception challenged Filipino intellectuals beginning in
the
1800s to rectify such cultural bias or prejudice. In 1890, Jose Rizal came out with an annotation
of Antonio de Moria's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas Events in the Philippine Islanda), a book
originally published in 1609. He used de Morga's book a rare Spanish publication that positively
viewed precolonial Filipino culture, as a retort to the arrogant Spaniards. However, cultural bias
against Filipino culture continued even after Rizal's death and the end of Spanish colonialism.

Learning from the fate of its colonial predecessor, the United States did not only use brute
force but also effected ingenious ways of pacification such as the use of education as a tool to
control their subjects and increase political and economic power of the elite few. These colonial
instruments were so ingrained among Filipinos that they perceived their colonial past in two
ways: initially maltreated by "wicked Spain" but later rescued by "benevolent America." This
kind of historical consciousness has effectively erased from the memories of Filipino
generations
the bloody Philippine-American War as exemplified by the Balangiga Massacre in Eastern Samar
and the Battle of Bud Bagsak in Sulu. Consequently, such perception breathes new life to the
two-part view of history: a period of darkness before the advent of the United States and an era
of
enlightenment during the American colonial administration. This view has resonated with Filipino
scholars even after the Americans granted our independence in 1946.
Philippine Historiography after World War II
The stark reality of Filipino historians thinking like their colonial counterparts during the
postcolonial period troubled a small group of professors and cultural workers who were mostly
alumni of the University of the Philippines. This spurred the emergence of Filipino scholars
who challenged the narrow view of colonial narratives and developed historical writing from the
viewpoint of a nationalist agenda.
In the 1950s, Teodoro Agoncillo pioneered nationalist historiography in the country by
highlighting the role of the Filipino reformists and revolutionaries from 1872, the year that saw
the execution of the Gornburza priests, to the end of the Philippine Revolution as the focal point
of the country's nation-building narrative. Two of his most celebrated books focus on the impact
of the Philippine Revolution: The Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan
(1956) and Malolos The Crisis of the Republic (1960). His
writings veered away from emphasizing Spanish colonial period
and regarded events before 1872 as part of the country's lost
history." This discourse of lost history" was not accepted by
another known scholar, Renato Constantino, whose published
work untitled "The Miseducation of the Filipino" became a
staple reading for academics
and activists beginning in
the late 1960s. Constantino
advanced the idea of a
"people's history"study
of the past that sought to
analyze society by searching
out people's voices from
colonial historical materials
that typically rendered Filipinos na decadent, inept and vile.
Following this mode of historical inquiry, he authored The
Philippines A Past Revisited (1975), a college textbook that
offered a more critical reading of Philippine history compared to
Agoncillo's History of the Filipino People (1973). Undoubtedly.
these two nationalist scholars inspired or challenged other
historians to reevaluate the country's national history.
Three other Filipino historians set new directions in
redefining Philippine historiography in the last 30 years of
the 20th century. The first of these scholars is Zeus Salazar
who conceptualized "Pantayong Pananaw" as an approach
to understanding the past from our own cultural frame and
language. He emphasized the value of our Austronesian roots
in defining Filipino culture and encouraged other scholars to
conduct outstanding historical
researches in Filipino such as
the work of Jaime Veneracion's
Kasaysayan ng Bulacan (1986).
Equally important is the
contribution of Reynaldo lleto who
wrote about his "history from below"
treatise in his ground-breaking work, Pasyon and Revolution: Popular
Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910 (1979). In this work, Neto
endeavored to recognize the way of thinking of ordinary folks by using
alternative historical sources such as folk songs and prayers. His other
works spurred new interpretations of common topics such as Jose
Rizal, Philippine
American War, and American colonization,

There is also Samuel Tan, another prolific historian who is

best remembered for mainstreaming the role and relevance of
Filipino Muslims in the country's national history. His definitive
work, The Filipino Muslim Armed Struggle, 1900-1972 (1978).
sought to examine the struggle of Filipino Muslims in the
context of 20th-century nation building dynamics during the
American colonial regime and subsequent postcolonial Filipino
administrations.
In his book, A History of the Philippines (1987),
Tun attempted to write a national history reflective of the
historical experiences not only of lowland Christianized Filipinos
but also of the other diferent cultural communities in the
archipelago

Since the latter part of the 20th century, there have been
considerable changes in the way historians compose our national
history. However, contemporary Philippine historiography still continues to be characterized by
the dominance of political narratives,
colonial histories, elite-centric perspective, and patriarchal
orientation nu well as emphasis on lowland Christianized Filipinos

Political Narratives
Most of our national historians today favor narratives that deal with the political aspects
of nation-building such as the legacies of political leaders and establishment of different
governments. Questions such as the following are focal points in these' narratives: Who was
the first Spanish governor general vital in implementing the encomienda policy? Who was the
governor-general responsible for the massive employment of Filipinos in the American colonial
bureaucracy? Who served as the last president of the Philippine Commonwealth and the
inaugural
chief executive of the Third Ropublic? Who was the Philippine president responsible for the
declaration of martial law? The challenge for present-day historians is to present a more holistie
history that go beyond politics by means of integrating other suspects of nation-building such
as
its economic and cultural aspects.

Colonial Histories in Historical Narratives

Another weakness of most national histories is the importance given to colonial histories.
This continue to breed Filipinos who are more familiar with stories about our colonial history
rather than stories of our precolonial past. Up to now, some social studies textbooks
misrepresent
ancient Filipinos as savages or barbarians by portraying colonisers, especially the Spaniards
and Americana, as liberators of the Filipinos trom cultural backwardness. The key to uncover
such cultural prejudices is to examine available historical sources and to write about our past by
understanding the myths and misconceptions that characterize the Filipino culture for centuries.

Elite-centric Perspective in Historical Narratives

Some historical narratives focus on the contributions of tbe elite in nation-building such as
what the Mustrados (educated Filipinos) fought for in the 19th century or how the local
politicians
negotiated with their American counterparts to obtain an independence law during the first half
of the 20th century. Though eminent historians such as Constantino and Ileto reiterated the
importance of a "people's history" and "history from below," respectively, so much has to be done
in terms of writing about the roles played by ordinary people in our history.

Patriarchal Orientation in Historical Narratives

Most of the country's historical narratives highlight the heroism of men in different ways:
leading revolts and liberation wars against colonizers, championing the cause of independence,
and spearheading political and economic development. Women, on the other hand, are viewed
by
several historians as merely support to men. Let us take for example the women leaders such as
Gabriela Silang, Tandang Sora, and Corazon Aquino. Silang assumed the leadership of the Ilocos
revolt after her husband was murdered in May 1763. Tandang Sora's decision to offer her barn
and farm revolutionaries in August 1896 was linked to her son's involvement in the Katipunan.
Aquino rose to prominence as a martyr's widow who led a movement to depose a dictatorship in
February 1986. These representations show women's roles as consequences of their connection
to
the men in their lives. With this bias in mind, it is imperative for contemporary historians to use
gender-sensitive approaches in understanding history to avoid typecasting women as
dependent,
emotional, less important, passive, submissive, and weak.

Emphasis on Lowland Christianized Filipinos

National histories tend to show partiality toward lowland Christianized Filipinos at the
expense of other cultural communities such as Muslim Filipinos and other indigenous peoples
such as the Manobos of Mindanao, Ibalois of Cordillera, and Mangyuns of Mindoro. Celebrated
figures of our past are all lowlander Christians and predominantly Tagalogs including Jose
Rizal, the leading propagandist; Andres Bonifacio, the Katipunan founder; Emilio Aguinaldo, the
revolutionary leader who declared independence; and Manuel Quezon, the first president of the
Philippine Commonwealth. Non-Christians and highlanders remain unrecognized in historical
narratives. Muslim Filipinos, in particular, have been subjected to negative characterization
by lowland Christians in published works such as history books. This is caused by the culture
of mistrust that developed between Christians and Muslims during the colonial periods.
Muslim Filipinos are depicted as brutal, cruel, ferocious, and vicious as exemplified by their
attacks of Christian towns. This narrow-minded view has to be reevaluated in order to correct
misrepresentations of Muslim Filipinos in this age of political correctness and
cultural-sensitivity

Because of the need to reassess our national histories, many local stories narratives about
origins and development of a barangay, town, city, province, or an ethnolinguistic community-
have been written in the last three decadés. The writing of these stories broadens the scope of
of
our national history reflective of the roles played by the country's cultural communities in nation-
building.