MIDTERM REVIEWER
Second Semester, SY 2022 – 2023
RIPH111 (Readings in Philippine History)
Alfred McCoy and Alfredo Roces on
Political Caricatures of the American Era
(Editorial Cartoons)
During the 19th century, Where the Mosquito
is King, Spanish public health procedures
were grossly inadequate to the imperatives
of Manila's site, and the Americans found the
city of cesspool of ill health when they
occupied it in 1898. Where Philippines Free
Press editorial commented "What ho! Manila,
the Pearl of the Orient, the best governed city
in the Far East, The new found Garden of
Eden …What’s happened to this city
anyway? Aforetime a mosquito was almost
as rare as the dodo …
As Manila’s population began to pilot upward
during World War I, housing became scarce
and rents escalated. Rising rent combined
with high food prices to reduce the Manila
working class in sudden poverty. New Bird of
Prey - In 1908 the nationalist weekly El
Renacimiento published an editorial titled
Aves de Rapina which attacked the
Philippines commission's secretary of the
interior, Dean C. Worcester, for abusing his
office to exploit the country. Worcester sued
for libel and, two years later, won a judgment
of P60,000 against El Renacimiento, a
colossal sum that forced closure of the paper
and sale of its assets.
New Bird of Prey The cartoonist, Fernando
Amorsolo, gives the illustration his usual
racist edge. While the corrupt Filipino
policeman is shown with normal features, the
Chinese are caricatured as emaciated,
leering creatures more rodent than human.
While the Priest Lives Alone in the Big House
urged the government to confiscate the large
priests’ residence attached to Santa Cruz
parish church.
Published on 14 April 1917, The Loyalty of
the Filipinos, only ten days after the U.S
Congress declared war on Germany and
America entered the conflict.
Liberty, Equality and Fraternity "It matters not
that of late the director of Constabulary has
been urging greater and greater restrictions
of the license to carry arms… All that
matters…is that the official have a chance to
show that he is somebody and must be
respected."
The Latest - Through ruthless reprisals
against opponents, Quezon gradually broke
the opposition. As in this caricature, the
Philippine Legislature, now under his control,
voted to reject the H-H-C Bill in October
1933. It could have been a fatal victory.
Excerpt from Filipino Grievances Against
Governor Wood by the Commission on
Independence
Jones Law - The passage of this law in 1916
(Philippine Autonomy Law) changed the
political landscape in the Philippines.
Wood-Forbes Mission - The mission sent to
the Philippines to observe if ever the Filipinos
have already complied with the conditions of
the Jones law.
Ray Conley - The chief of the vice squad of
the Manila police force who was accused of
receiving money from gambling lords.
Warren Harding - The President who sent the
Wood-Forbes Mission to the Philippines.
Jones Law - This law created a bicameral
Congress that gave opportunities to
politicians based in the provinces to
participate in policy making.
The Free Press description of this annual
ritual in 1929 captures something of its flavor:
“These are the days of the returning student
-- the days when he comes into his own.
Behold him as he struts along Main Street of
his little town or barrio, the cynosure of all
eyes, the observed of all observers, a king In
his own right, a sort of collegiate Caesar. The
Returning Student is it any wonder that,
under the incense of such flattery, he feels
himself a superior being, a conquering hero?
Nor let us blame him…
As social conflict and socialist ideology
spread in Central Luzon during the 1930s the
Free Press was forced to deal with social
substance instead of bucolic trivia in its
provincial reportage, Brother Under Skin
urges Filipinos, in the name of Rizal whose
birthday was following day, to end social
conflict and deal with each other fairly.
President Corazon Aquino's Speech
before the US Congress of 1986
September 18, 1986 The date when
President Corazon Aquino delivered her
speech before the US Congress.
September 21, 1972 - The official date of the
declaration of Martial Law under President
Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Benigno Aquino Jr. - He asserted his
willingness to suffer the consequences
declaring, “The Pilipino is worth dying for”.
President Corazon Aquino issued
Proclamation NO. 3 on March 25, 1986,
promulgating the Provisional Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines, other known
as Freedom Constitution
President Corazon Aquino promised to build
a new home for Democracy.
Raiders of the Sulu Sea
Raiders of the Sulu Sea is documentary film
focusing on Zamboanga City depicting how
the Spaniards defended the city with the Fort
Pilar as Spain’s last stronghold and bastion
of defense and economic expansion in the
South of the Philippines.
Kris is a type of single-edged sword,
traditionally used by various ethnic groups in
the Philippine archipelago.
The Kampilan is a heavy single-edged sword
adorned with hair to make it look even more
intimidating.
A Barong is single-edged leaf-shaped blade
made of thick tempered steel which one of
the Tausug warriors used to cut Spanish
firearms down to size.
Kalis is a type of double-edged Filipino
sword, often with a "wavy" section and has a
double-edged blade, which is commonly
straight from the tip.
Salipan are long and narrow war canoes,
mainly used for piracy and for raids on
coastal areas.
The Tausug tribe is known without maritime
experience but known for its fierce warriors
and widespread political power.
The Balangingi occupied the chain of islands
between Basilan and Sulu Island.
IIIanun is one which was very important in
piracy history.
Garay is ancient maritime vessel built from
bamboo, wood, and the nipa palm and could
carry more than 100 sailors.
Works of Juan Luna and Fernando
Amorsolo
Juan Luna is a great Filipino painter who
won the gold medal in the 1884. He was a
prominent propagandist who pushed for
political reforms along with Jose Rizal.
Juan Luna is referred to as the "Grand Old
Man of Philippine Art". Influenced with an
encounter with postwar impressionism and
cubism.
Parisian Life is also known as Interior d'un
Cafi (also spelled Interior is an oil on canvas
impressionist painting. significant
masterpieces are “Parisian Life” (1892) and
“Blood Compact” (1886).
A Legacy of Heroes, The Story of Bataan and
Corregidor discusses World War 2 in the
Philippines and how thousands of heroic
young Filipinos braved the odds and
struggled to defend and protect the freedom
of their people and motherland.
Fernando Amorsolo was a portraitist and
painter of rural Philippine landscape and the
first -ever to be recognized as a National
Artist of the Philippines.
Antonio Pigafetta. First Voyage Around
the World,. Emma Helen Blair and James
Alexander Robertson (1906). The
Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Vol. XXXIII
1519- 1522. (pp. 103-137)
At dawn on Saturday, March sixteen, 1521,
we came upon a high land at a distance of
three hundred leguas from the islands of
Latroni—an island named Zamal.
At noon on Friday, March 22, those men
came as they had promised us in two boats
with cocoanuts, sweet oranges, a jar of palm-
wine, and a cock, in order to show us that
there were fowls in that district.
On the afternoon of holy Monday, the day of
our Lady, March twenty-five, while we were
on the point of weighing anchor, I went to the
side of the ship to fish and putting my feet
upon a yard leading down into the storeroom,
they slipped, for it was rainy, and
consequently I fell into the sea, so that no
one saw me.
On Thursday morning, March twenty-eight,
as we had seen a fire on an island the night
before, we anchored near it. We saw a small
boat which the natives call boloto with eight
men in it, approaching the flagship. A slave
belonging to the captain-general, who was a
native of Zamatra, which was formerly called
Traprobana, spoke to them.
At noon on Sunday, April seven, we entered
the port of Zubu passing by many villages,
where we saw many houses built upon logs
Thereupon, the Moro merchant said to the
king Cata raia chitathat is to say, “Look well,
sire.” “These men are the same who have
conquered Calicut, Malaca, and all India
Magiore.
We remained there seven days, after which
we laid our course toward the northwest,
passing among five islands, namely, Ceylon,
Bohol, Canighan, Baybai, and Gatighan. In
the last-named island of Gatigan, there are
bats as large as eagles.
Filipino Version of the Cavite Mutiny of
1872 By Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera
The arrival of General Izquerdo (1871-1873)
was the signal for a complete change in the
aspect of affairs.

The workmen in the Cavite arsenal were all
natives in that town and of the neighboring
town of San Roque.
On the night of January 20, 1872, there was
an uprising among the soldiers in the San
Felipe fort, in Cavite, and the commanding
officer and other Spanish officers in charge
of the fort were assassinated.
The mutiny in Cavite gave the conservative
element — that is, those who favoured a
continuation of the colonial modus Vivendi —
an opportunity to represent to the Spanish
Government that a vast was afoot and
organized throughout the archipelago with
the object of destroying the Spanish
sovereignty.
Many of the best-known Filipinos were
denounced to the Military authorities, and
they, the son of Spaniards born in the islands
and men of mixed blood (Spanish and
Chinese), as well as the Indians of pure
blood, as the Philippine Malays were called,
were persecuted and punished without
distinction by the military authorities.
One of the results of the so called revolution
of Cavite was to strengthen the power of the
friars in the Philippine Islands in such manner
that the Madrid Government, which up to that
time had contemplated reducing the power of
the religious orders in these islands, was
obliged not only to abandon its intention, but
to place a yet greater measure of official
influences at the service of the friars, and
from that time they were considered as an
important factor in the preservation of the
Spanish sovereignty in the colony.
The Filipino people had never blamed the
Spanish nation for the backward condition
which the islands existed, nor for the
injustices committed in the islands by the
Spanish officials; but on the contrary it was
custom to lay all the blame for these things
on the individual officers guilty of
maladministration, and no attempt had been
made to investigate whether or not the evils
under which the islands suffered were due to
fundamental causes.
No attempt was made to allay the ill-feeling
which existed between the Filipinos and the
Spaniards, especially the friars, caused by
the mutiny in Cavite and the cruel manner in
which the punishment was meted out
The Views on the Date and Site of “The
First Cry of the Revolution”
The controversial “Cry of Pugad Lawin,”
which has been confirmed by no other
eyewitness of the event than Dr. Pio
Valenzuela, is the second and later version
of the first rally of the Katipunan by Dr.
Valenzuela himself. The first version which
he gave told of the “Cry of Balintawak” as the
first staging point of the Philippine
Revolution.
The first place of refuge of Andres Bonifacio,
Emilio Jacinto, Procopio Bonifacio, Teodoro
Plata, Aguedo del Rosario, and myself was
Balintawak, the first five arriving there on
August 19, and I on August 20, 1896. The
first place where some 500 members of the
Katipunan met on August 22, 1896, was the
house and yard of Apolonio Samson at
Kangkong.
The historic first rally of the Philippine
Revolution of 1896 occurred at the rustic
barrio of Balintawak, a few kilometers north
of the city of Manila, on August 26, 1896.
This date and site were officially adopted by
the government during the early years of the
American regime, after having consulted the
surviving Katipuneros and prestigious
historians at the time.
Taking advantage of Governor General
Ramon Blanco’s proclamation of amnesty to
the revolutionists, Valenzuela returned to
Manila on September 3, 1896, and
surrendered to Blanco. He was imprisoned to
Fort Santiago, where, upon investigation, he
told Fransisco Olive, the Spanish
investigator, that the “Cry” was staged at
“Balintawak on Wednesday, August 26,
1896.
There were about 1000 Katipuneros. The
“Supremo” decided to hold a meeting inside
the big barn. Under his leadership, the
meeting began at 10 o’clock in the morning.
It was 12 o’clock noon when the meeting
adjourned amidst loud cries of “Long live the
Sons of the Country” (Mabuhay ang mga
Anak ng Bayan)!
It is interesting to note that Captain Olegario
Diaz, Spanish commander of the Guardia
Civil Veterana of Manila, who investigated
the discovery of the Katipunan, also included
in his official report findings on the site and
date of the first rally of the Revolution.
According to his report, the first “Cry”
occurred at Balintawak on August 25, 1896.
On August 26, a big meeting was held in
Balintawak, at the house of Apolonio
Samson, then the cabeza of that barrio of
Caloocan. Among those who attended, were
Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Aguedo del
Rosario, Tomas Remigio, Briccio Pantes,
Teodoro Plata, Pio Valenzuela, Enrique
Pacheco and Francisco Carreon.They were
all leaders of the Katipunan and composed
the board of directors of the organization.
Delegates from Bulacan, Cabanatuan,
Cavite, and Morong (now Rizal), were also
present.
It was at Pugad Lawin, in the house, store-
house, and yard of Juan Ramos, son of
Melchora Aquino, where over 1000 members
of the Katipunan met and carried out
considerable debate and discussion on
August 23, 1896. The discussion was on
whether or not the revolution against the
Spanish government should be started on
August 29, 1896.
The meeting began with a discussion of what
course should be taken in the face of the new
situation and in the view if the arrests that
were being made. There were some who
were disposed to go back and surrender to
the Spanish authorities. Bonifacio was
strongly opposed to such a course.
One of the participants in the drama of the
Philippine Revolution of 1896 was Gregoria
de Jesus, the wife of Supremo Andres
Bonifacio, and the “Lakambini of the
Katipunan”. She was the custodian of the
secret documents, seal, and some weapons
of the Katipunan, and constantly risked her
life in safeguarding them.
General Information
OLEGARIO DIAZ, Commander of the
Guardia Civil Veterana of Manila, who
investigated the discovery of the Katipunan,
also included in his official report findings on
the site and date of the first rally of the
Revolution.
GREGORIA DE JESUS, Katipunan leader
and wife of Supremo Andres Bonifacio.
JOSE MONTERO Y VIDAL, a reputable
Spanish historian and a government official
and was residing in Manila when the Cavite
Mutiny occurred.
RAFAEL DE IZQUIERDO succeeded
Governor General Carlos Ma. De la Torre to
the disappointment of many Filipino liberals.
ALFREDO ROCES, Artist-writer who
designed the book “Political Caricatures of
the American Era”, contributed an essay on
Philippine graphic satire of the period.
CORAZON AQUINO A Philippine President
who delivered a speech before the US
Congress in 1986. The first President of the
Fifth Republic and the first lady President of
the Philippines.
BENIGNO AQUINO, JR, the husband of
Corazon Aquino who was known as the
greatest opposition of Ferdinand Marcos
Administration.

FERNANDO AMORSOLO was the first

recipient of the National Artist of the
Philippines in a field of painting and is also
referred to as the "Grand Old Man of
Philippine Art".

JUAN LUNA is known for having victory of

the gold medal in the 1884 Madrid Exposition
of Fine Arts for his “Spolarium” created a
celebration that would be a highlight in the
memoirs of members of the Propaganda
Movement.

LEONARD WOOD, a retired from the U.S.

Army in 1921 and appointed as Governor
General in the Philippines.

FERDINAND MARCOS The first President of

the Fourth Republic.

ALFRED MCCOY, has written about and

testified before Congress on, Philippine
political history, opium trafficking in the
Golden Triangle, underworld crime
syndicates, and international political
surveillance.

FELIX HIDALGOA Filipino painter awarded

as second prize in the 1884 Madrid
Exposition.

RAY CONLEY, chief of the vice squad of the

Manila Police Force who was accused of “May you perform well in the exam and get
receiving money from the gambling lords. closer to your success in life. God bless you!”