Readings 2.

1: Overview of the Sources of History for Content and Contextual Analysis

The following are overview of the 10 sources to be analyzed in terms of their contents and
contents including their contributions to the grand narratives of Philippine history, their
significance at present as well as the points of view of the authors or the artists. Please do not be
limited by the information provided here. They are meant only as guides and teasers. You are
tasks to read other sources to supplement the information provided here. There are suggested
links indicated for you to check for additional information. However, for those of you with poor or
no internet connectivity you may refer to the books on Readings in Philippine History available in
bookstores.

2.1 The First Voyage Around the World by Antonio Pigafetta

The First Voyage Around the World is a documentation of the expedition of Ferdinand
Magellan and his men. Antonio Pigafetta was an Italian scholar and explorer from Venice. He
travelled with the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Indies to look for spices.
Pigafetta narrated significant information during the voyage based on his observations and
experiences. During the expedition he was Magellan's assistant and he also kept a journal which
would help him translate the Cebuano dialect. He was able to collect extensive data concerning
the geography, climate, flora and fauna of places they visited. He was 1 of the 18 men to return
from the voyage out of approximately 240.

Pigafetta’s First Voyage Around the World shares information about geography,
economics and trade of our ancestors, religion and culture including a description of political unit.

2.2 The Customs of the Tagalogs by Juan de Plasencia, OFM

The Customs of the Tagalogs was written by Fray Juan de Plasencia, OFM as a report for
submission to the King of Spain in 1589. The tasks of the Spanish friars at the beginning of
Spanish colonization in the Philippines was not limited to the Christianization of the natives. Aside
from their religious duties they were also assigned to render reports based on their observations.
Thus, the Customs of the Tagalogs was written. Its contents described the life in the community
of the people in the Tagalog region specifically their barangays, the caste system, ownership of
properties, marriage customs, the worship including the elaborate religious rituals, superstitious
beliefs as well as on how the Tagalogs bury their dead.

From the writings of Fray de Plasencia he observed that people in the Katagalugan are
grouped into 3, the nobles, maharlika and alipin. The nobles usually carried the titles Gat or Lakan.
They enjoyed more rights and at the same time were responsible for overseeing the activities in
the barangays. The maharlikas were the freemen. The lowest in the social strata were the alipins
classified as aliping namamahay and aliping saguiguilid. The former can buy their freedom while
the latter remains slaves until their death. The members of the social classes are part of barangay,
a community composed of 30 to 100 families.

The nobles owned more properties than anyone else in the social strata. The land area of
the barangays was divided among its people, especially the irrigated portions. Only the residents
of the barangay could cultivate the land. Residents of other barangays could cultivate land in
another barangay provided they inherited or bought the land. The mountain ridges are commonly
owned and anyone who starts to clear any land area may sow it.
 In case the wife opts for divorce to marry another man, all her belongings will be left to her
would be ex-husband plus a certain amount. However, if she will not remarry, all her dowry will
be given to her.

On the other hand, the adopted children reserve the right to receive valuables double the
amount of how much they were paid for during the adoption.

They also believed in 12 priests of the devil. These are: (1) Catolonan. Chosen among its
people but occupied a high rank. The catalonan officiates the offering of a sacrifice for a feast and
the food to be eaten being offered to the devil. (2) Mangagauay. They pretend to heal the sick to
deceive others. (3) Manyisalat. They cast spell to couples for them to separate. (4) Mancocolam,
Their mouth emit fire which cannot be extinguished. (5) Hocloban, They are believed to be more
powerful than a mangagauay. They can kill anyone without the use of any medicine. They can
also heal those who are ill if they choose to. (6) Silagan, They would tear out and eat the liver of
anyone they see wearing white. (7) Magtatangal, They would go out at night headless and put it
back into their bodies before sunrise. (8) Osuang. They believed to be eating the flesh of anyone
they killed. (9) Mangagayoma, They are capable of seducing anyone using charms, potions and
accessories. 10) Sonat People believed they helped anyone who is about to die. They claimed to
know whether the soul of the dying they helped would be saved or not. (11) Pangatahojan. They
are believed capable of predicting the future. (12) Bayoguin. They are men but deceiving
appearing to be women.

2.3 The Kartilla ng Katipunan by Emilio Jacinto

The Kartilya ng Katipunan was written by Emilio Jacinto who was the Brains of the
Katipunan. It has 14 points meant to guide the members of the secret society- the Katipunan. To
be comprehensively acquainted to the 14 points. Following are the code of ethics of the members
of the Katipunan:

(1) A life that is not dedicated to a noble cause is like a tree without a shade or a poisonous
weed.
(2) A deed lacks nobility if it is motivated by self-interest and not by a sincere desire to
help.
(3) True piety consists of being charitable, loving one’s fellowmen, and being judicious in
behavior, speech and deed.
(4) All persons are equal, regardless of the color of their skin. While one could have more
schooling, wealth, or beauty than another, all that does not make one or more human than
anybody else.
(5) A person with a noble character values honor above self-interest, while a person with
a base character values self-interest above honor.
(6) To a person of honor/ his/her word is a pledge.
(7) Don’t waste time; last wealth can be retrieved, but time lost is lost forever.
(8) Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor.
(9) The wise person is careful in a all he/ she has to say and is discreet about things that
need to be kept secret.
(10) On the thorny path of life, the man leads the way and his wife and children follow. If
the leader goes the way to perdition, so do the followers. (Note: This begins with an observation
of the vertical relationship of husband and wife during the time of the Katipunan; now, we can say
that the parents lead the way and the children follow.)
(11) Never regard a woman as an object for you trifle with; rather you should consider her
as a partner and helpmate. Give proper consideration to a woman’s frailty and never forget that
your own mother, who brought you forth and nurtured you from infancy, is herself such a person.
 (12) Don’t do to the wife, children and brothers and sisters of others what you do not want
done to your wife, children, brothers and sisters.
(13) A man’s worth is not measured by his station in life, neither by the height of his nose
nor the fairness of skin, and certainly not by whether he is a priest claiming to be God’s deputy.
Even if he a tribesman from the hills and speaks only his on tongue, a man , has fine perceptions
and is loyal to his native land.

(14) When these teachings shall have been propagated and the glorious sun of freedom
begins to shine on these poor Islands to enlightened a united race and people, then all the lives
lost, all the struggle and the sacrifices will not have been in vain. (Source:
https://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/in-focus/the-spirit-of-the-kartilya/)

2.4 Ang Mga Gunitang Himagsikan by Emilio Aguinaldo

Ang Mga Gunita ng Himagsikan is based on the memoirs written by Emilio Aguinaldo
recounting his personal experiences as the Filipinos fought for independence from Spain.
Aguinaldo wrote that the accounts were based on his personal recollections of the events that
happened as well as some accounts were taken from his diary and other own documents. He
also wrote that the accounts pertaining to his birth and childhood were based on the narratives of
his parents and relatives which he remembered.

The book has a total of 49 chapters recounting his personal accounts from his birth,
childhood, the start of his career as Cabeza de Barangay at the age of 17 years until the events
pertaining to the experiences of the Filipinos working for their quest for independence from Spain.

The following are the chapter titles: (1) Kapanganakan at Kaanak, (2) Ang Aking Pag-
aaral, (3) Nahilig Ako sa Paghahanapbuhay, (4) Cabeza de Barangay sa Gulang na Labimpito,
(5) Ang Huli Kong Paglalakbay, (6) Ang Bagong Tungkuling Capitan Municipal, (7) Ang
Pagkakasapi Ko sa Masoneria at Katipunan, (8) Namg Ako Ay Makipag-isang Puso, (9) Hidwaan
sa Official ng Guardia Civil, (10) Pulong Pangkalahatan ng Katipunan, (11) Cuadrillero Na
Pinasapi Sa Katipunan, (12) Mahiwagang Pulong Ng Mga Frayle Sa Hacienda Salitran, (13)
Capitan Municipal Sa Araw, Katipunan Sa Gabi, (14) Natuklasan Ang Katipunan, (15) Isang Sulat
Ng Supremo a. Bonifacio, (16) Huling Araw Ng Aking Pagka-Capitan Municipal, (17) Pasimula
Ng Pamahalaang Tagalog, (18) Nabigong Paglusob Sa Imus, (19) Pasimula Ng Pagsalakay
Namin Sa Kalaban, (20) Isang “Juicio Sumarisimo”, (21) Ang Una Kong Pagkabigo Sa Hukbo Ng
Kastila, (22) Nabigong Pasinayang Labanan Sa Bakood, Ngumit Tagumpay Sa Imus, (23)
Pagkagapi ng Brigada Aguirre; Unang Tagumpay, (24) Namganyon Ang Muralla at Sasakyang
Pangdigma Sa Kabite, (25) Nilusob Namin Ang Talisay, Batangas, (26) Viva Ang Mga Tagalog,
(27) Dumagsa Sa Kabite and Maraming Tao, (28) Nauntol Na Paglusob Sa Banadero, Tanauan,
(29) Inaanyayahan Sa Kabite Ang Supremo A. Bonifacio, (30) Nagpanibagaong Tatag Ang
Sangguniang Magdiwang, (31) Malungkot na Balita Ukol Kay Rizal, (32) Paglusob Sa Tagiik At
Pateros, (33) Lulusubin Ang Kabite Ng Apat-Na-Pung Cazadores, (34) Tatlong Frayleng Bihag
Ipinabaril, (35) Humuhingi Ng Kapayapaan, (36) Makapal Na Kawak Galing Espana, (37)
Paglusosb At Tagumpay Ng Manghihimagsik Sa Pasong Santol, (38) Pagpipisan Ng
Sangguniang Magdiwang At Magdalo. (39) Nagbalik Ako Sa Imus, (40) Kagula-gulat Na
Pagdaluhong Ng Mga Kalaban, (41) Mahiwagang Pulong Ng Haring Bayan, (42) Ang Pagkatatag
Ng :Consejo De Guerra”, (43) Nilusob Ng Kalaban Ang Naic, (44) Hinatulan Ng Kamatayan Ang
Magkapatid Na Bonifcio, (45) Kahulihulihang Laban Sa Kabite, (46) Paglipat Namin Sa Biyak-Na-
Bato, (47) Pagharap Ng Kapitan Gregorio Del Pilar, (48) Lalong Lumaganap Ang Himagsikan,
(49) Kapayapaan Amg Hiling Ng Espana
 The original introduction was written by his private secretary Felisa P. Diokno. The book
was formerly intended to be published and made available to the public on his 95 th birthday.
However, before being able to do so, he got sick and died. Hence, Felisa P. Diokno considered it
as her responsibility to push through with the publication.

The original Preface of the memoir was written by Emilio Aguinaldo in Tagalog. It was
prepared in his own handwriting having been written between 1929 and 1946. It is important to
note that this is the only publication which he authorized. “The Tagalog original was translated
into English by Dr. Luz Colendrino Bucu’ who was then the Secretary of Graduate School
Education of the University of the East.

2.5 The Documents of the 1898 Declaration of Philippine Independence

The culmination of the long struggles of our ancestors against the Spaniards is the
declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898 at Kawit, Cavite. The document was
written by Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista. The document titled “Act of the proclamation of the
Independence of the Filipino People” was an announcement of the Filipino people to the world of
their right to be free and independent. The document similarly expressed their determination to
defend their freedom even it will cost them with their lives, fortunes, and honor.

Bautista likewise was the one who read the proclamation at the Aguinaldo residence in
Kawit, Cavite at 5’oclock in the afternoon of June 12, 1898. The said document formalized “For
the first time in the nation’s history the present Filipino flag was officially unfurled, and the national
anthem played”.

The said document was signed by 98 delegates. However, it was promulgated on August
1 of the same year when towns were already organized. Renato Constantino in his “The Past
Revisited” wrote that Dewey was invited by Aguinaldo, but the former declined. Constantino
further mentioned that Dewey did not even report the information to Washington.

2.6 Alfred McCoy’s Political Caricatures of the American Era

The book of Alfred McCoy’s Political Caricatures of the American Era is a compilation of
editorial cartoons describing the socio-political, economic, and even cultural situations in the
Philippines. The compiled editorial cartoons were taken from three newspapers and one
magazine that circulated in the Philippines during the American period. These are The
Independent, Bag-Ong Kusog, Lipag Kalabaw and The Philippines Free Press. McCoy did not
draw the cartoons instead merely compiled them in one book along with a Filipino, Alfredo Roces.

The book is divided into 2 major parts: Part 1 includes 2 essays titled: (1) Mang Juan and
Uncle Sam: The Filipino Caricaturist as Historian written by Alfredo Roces, and (2) Images of
Changin Nation by Alfred McCoy.

Meanwhile, part 2 shows the cartoons grouped into 7 themes taken from the above-
mentioned newspapers and magazines. The themes are (1) The Corruption of a City, (2) The
Distant Provinces, (3) The Colonial Condition, (4) Uncle Sam and Little Juan, (5) The Aliens in
Our Midst, (6) The Political Pageant, and the (7) An Emerging Nation.

2.7 The Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood

The Filipino Grievances Against Governor Wood is the only secondary source among the
sources included for analysis in Chapter 2. It was published in Zaide’s Documentary Sources of
Philippine History. However, it does not follow that Zaide is the author. The said document was
written by Jose Abad Santos and Jorge Bocobo. It talks about the supposed sentiments of the
Filipinos against the American Governor General Leonard Wood. There are 21 “abuses”
highlighted which can be clustered into political, social, and economic aspects.

The claimed “usurpation” on the part of Gov. Wood are enumerated as follows:
(1) He has refused his assent to laws which were the most wholesome and necessary for the
public good.
(2) He has set at naught both the legal authority and responsibility for the Philippine heads of
departments
(3) He has substantiated his constitutional advisers for a group of military attaches without
legal standing in the government and not responsible to the people.
(4) He has reversed the policy of Filipinizing the service of the government by appointing
Americans even when Filipinos of proven capacity were available.
(5) He has obstructed the carrying out of national economic policies duly adopted by
Legislature, merely because they are in conflict with his personal views.
(6) He has rendered merely perfunctory the power of the Legislature to pass the annual
appropriation law by reviving items in the law of the preceding year, after vetoing the
corresponding items of the current appropriation act, in flagrant violation of the Organic
Law.
(7) He has made appointments to positions and authorized the payment of salaries thereof
after having vetoed the appropriations for such salaries.
(8) He has used certain public funds to grant additional compensation to public officials in
clear violation of law.
(9) He has arrogated unto himself the right of exercising the powers granted by law to the
Emergency Board after abolishing said board on the ground that its powers involved an
unlawful delegation of legislative authority.
(10) He has unduly interfered in the administration of justice.
(11) He has refused to obtain the advice of the Senate in making appointments where
such advice is required by the Organic Act.
(12) He has refused to submit to the Senate appointment for vacancies occurring during
the recess of the Legislature in contravention of the Organic Act.
(13) He has continued in office nominees whose appointment had been rejected by the
Senate.
(14) He has usurped legislative powers by imposing conditions on legislative measures
approved by him.
(15) He has, in the administration of affairs in Mindanao, brought about a condition
which has given rise to discord and dissension between certain groups of Christian and
Mohammedian Filipinos.
(16) He has by his policies created strained relations between resident Americans and
Filipinos.
(17) He has endeavored, on the pretext of getting the government out of business, to
dispose of all the companies capitalized by the government worth many millions of the
people’s money to powerful American interests.
(18) He has sanctioned the campaign of insidious propaganda in the United States
against the Filipino people and their aspirations.
(19) He has attempted to close the Philippine National Bank so necessary to the
economic development of the country.
(20) He has adopted the practice of intervening in, and controlling directly, to its minute
details, the affairs of the Philippine Government, botj insular and local, in violation of self-
government.
(21) He has insistently sought the amendment of our land laws approved by the
Congress of the United States, which amendment would open up the resources of our
 country to exploitation by predatory interests. (Source: Zaide, G. (1990). Documentary
sources of Philippine history. Volume II. Navotas: National Book Store)

2.8 Pres. Corazon Aquino’s Speech before the US Congress

Corazon C. Aquino being the first woman President of the Republic of the Philippines got the
attention of the people in different countries worldwide. Six months after she sworn to office, she
was invited by the US Congress to deliver a speech. The speech was delivered on September
18, 1986 during the joint session of the United States Congress. Her speech was written by
Teodoro Locsin, Jr. However, the contents were her ideas. Below is the transcript of her speech
published on https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1986/09/18/speech-of-president-corazon-
aquino-during-the-joint-session-of-the-u-s-congress-september-18-1986/:

Speech of
Her Excellency Corazon C. Aquino
President of the Philippines
During the Joint Session of the United States Congress

[Delivered at Washington, D.C., on September 18, 1986]

Three years ago, I left America in grief to bury my husband, Ninoy Aquino. I thought I
had left it also to lay to rest his restless dream of Philippine freedom. Today, I have returned
as the president of a free people.

In burying Ninoy, a whole nation honored him. By that brave and selfless act of giving
honor, a nation in shame recovered its own. A country that had lost faith in its future found
it in a faithless and brazen act of murder. So in giving, we receive, in losing we find, and out
of defeat, we snatched our victory.

For the nation, Ninoy became the pleasing sacrifice that answered their prayers for
freedom. For myself and our children, Ninoy was a loving husband and father. His loss, three
times in our lives, was always a deep and painful one.

Fourteen years ago this month was the first time we lost him. A president-turned-
dictator, and traitor to his oath, suspended the Constitution and shut down the Congress that
was much like this one before which I am honored to speak. He detained my husband along
with thousands of others – senators, publishers and anyone who had spoken up for the
democracy as its end drew near. But for Ninoy, a long and cruel ordeal was reserved. The
dictator already knew that Ninoy was not a body merely to be imprisoned but a spirit he
must break. For even as the dictatorship demolished one by one the institutions of
democracy – the press, the Congress, the independence of the judiciary, the protection of the
Bill of Rights – Ninoy kept their spirit alive in himself.
 The government sought to break him by indignities and terror. They locked him up in
a tiny, nearly airless cell in a military camp in the north. They stripped him naked and held
the threat of sudden midnight execution over his head. Ninoy held up manfully–all of it. I
barely did as well. For 43 days, the authorities would not tell me what had happened to him.
This was the first time my children and I felt we had lost him.

When that didn’t work, they put him on trial for subversion, murder and a host of
other crimes before a military commission. Ninoy challenged its authority and went on a fast.
If he survived it, then, he felt, God intended him for another fate. We had lost him again. For
nothing would hold him back from his determination to see his fast through to the end. He
stopped only when it dawned on him that the government would keep his body alive after
the fast had destroyed his brain. And so, with barely any life in his body, he called off the fast
on the fortieth day. God meant him for other things, he felt. He did not know that an early
death would still be his fate, that only the timing was wrong.

At any time during his long ordeal, Ninoy could have made a separate peace with the
dictatorship, as so many of his countrymen had done. But the spirit of democracy that
inheres in our race and animates this chamber could not be allowed to die. He held out, in
the loneliness of his cell and the frustration of exile, the democratic alternative to the
insatiable greed and mindless cruelty of the right and the purging holocaust of the left.

And then, we lost him, irrevocably and more painfully than in the past. The news came
to us in Boston. It had to be after the three happiest years of our lives together. But his death
was my country’s resurrection in the courage and faith by which alone they could be free
again. The dictator had called him a nobody. Two million people threw aside their passivity
and escorted him to his grave. And so began the revolution that has brought me to
democracy’s most famous home, the Congress of the United States.

The task had fallen on my shoulders to continue offering the democratic alternative
to our people.

Archibald Macleish had said that democracy must be defended by arms when it is
attacked by arms and by truth when it is attacked by lies. He failed to say how it shall be won.

I held fast to Ninoy’s conviction that it must be by the ways of democracy. I held out
for participation in the 1984 election the dictatorship called, even if I knew it would be
rigged. I was warned by the lawyers of the opposition that I ran the grave risk of legitimizing
the foregone results of elections that were clearly going to be fraudulent. But I was not
fighting for lawyers but for the people in whose intelligence I had implicit faith. By the
exercise of democracy, even in a dictatorship, they would be prepared for democracy when
it came. And then, also, it was the only way I knew by which we could measure our power
even in the terms dictated by the dictatorship.

The people vindicated me in an election shamefully marked by government thuggery

and fraud. The opposition swept the elections, garnering a clear majority of the votes, even
if they ended up, thanks to a corrupt Commission on Elections, with barely a third of the seats
in parliament. Now, I knew our power.

Last year, in an excess of arrogance, the dictatorship called for its doom in a snap
election. The people obliged. With over a million signatures, they drafted me to challenge the
dictatorship. And I obliged them. The rest is the history that dramatically unfolded on your
television screen and across the front pages of your newspapers.

You saw a nation, armed with courage and integrity, stand fast by democracy against
threats and corruption. You saw women poll watchers break out in tears as armed goons
crashed the polling places to steal the ballots but, just the same, they tied themselves to the
ballot boxes. You saw a people so committed to the ways of democracy that they were
prepared to give their lives for its pale imitation. At the end of the day, before another wave
of fraud could distort the results, I announced the people’s victory.

The distinguished co-chairman of the United States observer team in his report to
your President described that victory:

“I was witness to an extraordinary manifestation of democracy on the part of the

Filipino people. The ultimate result was the election of Mrs. Corazon C. Aquino as President
and Mr. Salvador Laurel as Vice-President of the Philippines.”

Many of you here today played a part in changing the policy of your country towards
us. We, Filipinos, thank each of you for what you did: for, balancing America’s strategic
interest against human concerns, illuminates the American vision of the world.

When a subservient parliament announced my opponent’s victory, the people turned

out in the streets and proclaimed me President. And true to their word, when a handful of
military leaders declared themselves against the dictatorship, the people rallied to their
protection. Surely, the people take care of their own. It is on that faith and the obligation it
entails, that I assumed the presidency.

As I came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it. That is my contract with my people
and my commitment to God. He had willed that the blood drawn with the lash shall not, in
my country, be paid by blood drawn by the sword but by the tearful joy of reconciliation.

We have swept away absolute power by a limited revolution that respected the life
and freedom of every Filipino. Now, we are restoring full constitutional government. Again,
as we restored democracy by the ways of democracy, so are we completing the constitutional
structures of our new democracy under a constitution that already gives full respect to the
Bill of Rights. A jealously independent Constitutional Commission is completing its draft
which will be submitted later this year to a popular referendum. When it is approved, there
will be congressional elections. So within about a year from a peaceful but national upheaval
that overturned a dictatorship, we shall have returned to full constitutional government.
Given the polarization and breakdown we inherited, this is no small achievement.
 My predecessor set aside democracy to save it from a communist insurgency that
numbered less than 500. Unhampered by respect for human rights, he went at it hammer
and tongs. By the time he fled, that insurgency had grown to more than 16,000. I think there
is a lesson here to be learned about trying to stifle a thing with the means by which it grows.

I don’t think anybody, in or outside our country, concerned for a democratic and open
Philippines, doubts what must be done. Through political initiatives and local reintegration
programs, we must seek to bring the insurgents down from the hills and, by economic
progress and justice, show them that for which the best intentioned among them fight.

As President, I will not betray the cause of peace by which I came to power. Yet
equally, and again no friend of Filipino democracy will challenge this, I will not stand by and
allow an insurgent leadership to spurn our offer of peace and kill our young soldiers, and
threaten our new freedom.

Yet, I must explore the path of peace to the utmost for at its end, whatever
disappointment I meet there, is the moral basis for laying down the olive branch of peace
and taking up the sword of war. Still, should it come to that, I will not waver from the course
laid down by your great liberator: “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the rights as God gives us to see the rights, let us finish the work we are in, to
bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations.”

Like Lincoln, I understand that force may be necessary before mercy. Like Lincoln, I
don’t relish it. Yet, I will do whatever it takes to defend the integrity and freedom of my
country.

Finally, may I turn to that other slavery: our $26 billion foreign debt. I have said that
we shall honor it. Yet must the means by which we shall be able to do so be kept from us?
Many conditions imposed on the previous government that stole this debt continue to be
imposed on us who never benefited from it. And no assistance or liberality commensurate
with the calamity that was visited on us has been extended. Yet ours must have been the
cheapest revolution ever. With little help from others, we Filipinos fulfilled the first and most
difficult conditions of the debt negotiation the full restoration of democracy and responsible
government. Elsewhere, and in other times of more stringent world economic conditions,
Marshall plans and their like were felt to be necessary companions of returning democracy.

When I met with President Reagan yesterday, we began an important dialogue about
cooperation and the strengthening of the friendship between our two countries. That
meeting was both a confirmation and a new beginning and should lead to positive results in
all areas of common concern.

Today, we face the aspirations of a people who had known so much poverty and
massive unemployment for the past 14 years and yet offered their lives for the abstraction
of democracy. Wherever I went in the campaign, slum area or impoverished village, they
came to me with one cry: democracy! Not food, although they clearly needed it, but
democracy. Not work, although they surely wanted it, but democracy. Not money, for they
gave what little they had to my campaign. They didn’t expect me to work a miracle that would
instantly put food into their mouths, clothes on their back, education in their children, and
work that will put dignity in their lives. But I feel the pressing obligation to respond quickly
as the leader of a people so deserving of all these things.

We face a communist insurgency that feeds on economic deterioration, even as we

carry a great share of the free world defenses in the Pacific. These are only two of the many
burdens my people carry even as they try to build a worthy and enduring house for their
new democracy, that may serve as well as a redoubt for freedom in Asia. Yet, no sooner is
one stone laid than two are taken away. Half our export earnings, $2 billion out of $4 billion,
which was all we could earn in the restrictive markets of the world, went to pay just the
interest on a debt whose benefit the Filipino people never received.

Still, we fought for honor, and, if only for honor, we shall pay. And yet, should we have
to wring the payments from the sweat of our men’s faces and sink all the wealth piled up by
the bondsman’s two hundred fifty years of unrequited toil?

Yet to all Americans, as the leader of a proud and free people, I address this question:
has there been a greater test of national commitment to the ideals you hold dear than that
my people have gone through? You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring
freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it. And here you have a people who
won it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.

Three years ago, I said thank you, America, for the haven from oppression, and the
home you gave Ninoy, myself and our children, and for the three happiest years of our lives
together. Today, I say, join us, America, as we build a new home for democracy, another
haven for the oppressed, so it may stand as a shining testament of our two nation’s
commitment to freedom.

2.9 The Raiders of the Sulu Sea

The Raiders of the Sulu Sea is a documentary movie produced by Oak 3 Films. It was first
released by Q Channel Korea and distributed internationally by Glass International. Its running
time is 48 minutes and 43 seconds.

The film is a historical-documentary about the slave raiding activities of the Sama-
Balanguingul and the Ilanun/Iranum under the Sultanate of Sulu. The key informants of the movie
are: Icelle D. Borja, Samuel Tan, Barbara Watson-Andaya, Julius Bautista, Margarita Cojuangco
and Halman Abubakar.

Further, the film describes the defense exhibited on Fort Pilar by the Spaniards. This
because of the important economic role of Fort Pilar at that time. The film likewise shows the free
trading activities in the Southeast Asian region as well as the possible effects if Europeans will
control the trading activities. The possible effects were also explored of the European colonization
 The film showcased the classic earliest seafaring vessels such as the Lanong, Garay and
the Salisipan. The sophisticated tools and weapons of the Filipinos in the southern portion of the
country was also showcased in the film. These include the Barong, Kris, and the Kampilan.

For those of you with internet connectivity, you are required to watch the film. Please check
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtJ1mZdX10.

2.10. The Works of Luna and Amorsolo Paintings

Juan Luna and Fernando Amorsolo are two of the best Filipino painters. They lived in two
different historical periods thus, the themes of their paintings are reflective of the socio-political,
economic, and cultural situations in the country. Some believe that the artworks are reflective of
the moods and experiences of the artists. And experiences are similarly shaped by the socio-
political, economic, and cultural situations.