“You have to know the past to

understand the present.”

– Carl Sagan
 Readings in
Philippine History
KARL LOUIS E. CONSTANTINO
Instructor
What is the meaning of History?
History has always been known
as the study of the ‘past’.
 History was derived from the Greek word
‘historia’ which means knowledge acquired
through inquiry or investigation.
 History as a discipline existed for around 2,400
years and is as old as mathematics and philosophy.
This term was then adapted to classical Latin where
it acquired a new definition.
 Historia became known as the account of
the past of a person or of a group of people
through written documents and historical
evidences.
 Traditional historians lived with the
mantra of “no document, no history.” It
means that unless a written document
can prove a certain historical event,
then it cannot be a historical fact.
• But as any other academic disciplines, history progressed and opened
up to the possibility of valid historical sources, which were not limited
to written documents, like government records, chroniclers’ accounts
or personal letters.
• Giving premium to written documents essentially invalidates the
history of other civilizations that do not keep written records. Some
were keener on passing their history by word of mouth. Others got
their historical documents burned or destroyed in the events of war or
colonization.
• Restricting historical evidence as exclusively written is also
discrimination against other social classes who were not recorded in
paper.
•Historians who started using other kinds of
historical sources, which may not be in written
form but were just as valid.

•A few of these examples are oral traditions in forms

of epics and songs, artifacts, architecture, and
memory.
•History thus became more inclusive and started
collaborating with other disciplines as its auxiliary
disciplines.
• With the aid of archaeologists, historians can use artifacts from a
bygone era to study ancient civilizations that were formerly
ignored in history because of lack of documents.
• Linguists can also be helpful in tracing historical evolutions, past
connections among different groups, and flow of cultural
influence by studying language and the changes that it has
undergone.
• Even scientists like biologists and biochemists can help with the
study of the past through analyzing genetic and DNA patterns of
human societies.
Historiography
 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.
 Historiography is the history of history. History and
historiography should not be confused with each other. The
former’s object of study (History) is the past, the events
that happened in the past, and the causes of such events.
The latter’s object of study (Historiography), is history
itself (i.e. How was a certain historical text written? Who
wrote it? When was the context of its publication? What
particular historical method was employed? What were the
sources used?)
 Thus, historiography lets the student
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 the
historians’ contexts.
Importance of History
•History has played various
roles in the past.
•To form and unite a nation.

•To legitimize regimes and forge a

sense of collective identity through
collective memory.

•To make sense of the present.

•History has played various
roles in the past.
•Learning of past mistakes can help
people to not repeat them.

•To inspire people to keep their good

practices to move forward.
Problems and Issues in History
•The accusation that the history is always
written by victors. This connotes the narrative
is always written from the bias of the powerful
and the more dominant player.
•For instance, the history of the Second World
War in the Philippines always depicts the US as
the hero and the Imperial Japanese Army as the
oppressors.
•Through a more thorough historical
investigation will reveal a more nuanced
account of the history of that period
instead of a simplified narrative as a story
of hero versus villain.
“
Only a part of what was observed in the past was
remembered by those who observed it; only a
part of what was remembered was recorded; only
a part of what was recorded has survived; only a
part of what has survived has come to the
historian’s attention. Only a part of what is
credible has been grasped, and only a part of
what has been grasped can be expounded or
narrated by a historian.

”
Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
 PHILOSOPHICAL
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
POSITIVISM
•It is a school of thought emerged between the
eighteenth and nineteenth century. This
thought requires empirical and observable
evidence before one can claim that a particular
knowledge is true. It also entails an objective
means of arriving at a conclusion.
POSITIVISM
•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.
POSITIVISM
•Positivist historians are also expected to be
objective and impartial not just in their
arguments but also on their conduct of
historical research.
 POSTCOLONIALISM
It is a school of thought that emerged in
the early twentieth century when formerly
colonized nations grappled with the idea of
creating their identities and understanding
their societies against the shadows of their
colonial past.
POSTCOLONIALISM
Postcolonial history looks at two things in
writing history: first is to tell the history of
their nation that will highlight their identity
free from that of colonial discourse and
knowledge, and second is to criticize the
methods, effects, and idea of colonialism.
POSTCOLONIALISM
Postcolonial history is therefore a
reaction and an alternative to the
colonial history that colonial powers
created and taught to their subjects.
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
•Historical research refers to the process of
investigation and collection of data, facts, and
evidence related to past events, in order to construct
a narrative or interpretation of history. Historical
research involves the examination of primary sources,
secondary sources, and other historical documents in
order to uncover new information, verify or challenge
existing historical interpretations, and construct a
more accurate and nuanced understanding of the
past.
•Historical research mainly relies on first-hand
information sources such as historical records, books,
photographs, letters, evidence that belongs to the
time the research focuses on. To put it simply, those
sources are written by someone who was a
participant or direct witness of the event.
•Secondary source materials - books and articles are
written sometime after the events can also contribute
to research to some extent.
History and the Historian
 “Facts cannot speak for themselves.”
•It is the historian’s job not just to seek historical
evidences and facts but also to interpret these facts.
•It is the job of the historian to give meaning to
these facts and organize them into a timeline,
establish causes, and write history.
•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.
•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.
•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
researcher.
 Annales School of History
•The Annales School of History is a school of
history born in France that challenged the canons
of history. This school of thought did away with
the common historical subjects that were almost
always related to the conduct of states and
monarchs.
•Annales scholars like Lucian Febvre, March Bloch,
Fernand Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff studied
other subjects in a historical manner. They were
concerned with social history and studied longer
historical periods.
 Annales School of History
•For example, Annales scholars studied the history
of peasantry, the history of medicine, or even the
history of environment. The history from below
was pioneered by the same scholars. They
advocated that the people and classes who were
not reflected in history of the society in the grand
manner be provided with space in the records of
mankind. In doing this, Annales thinkers married
history with other disciplines like geography,
anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
•The study of History is a relentless search for the
truth. With past as history’s subject matter, the
historian’s most important research tools are historical
sources.
•In the study of history, sources are always
important. Sources are where the information come
from. In a technical sense the source of historical
information is the document.
In general, historical sources can be
classified between primary and
secondary sources.
 Primary Sources

•Primary sources are those sources produced at the

same time as the event, period, or subject being
studied.
•Primary sources enable the researcher to get as close
as possible to what actually happened during a
historical event or time period.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
Examples of Primary Sources
Diaries and Journals

e.g. Anne Frank was a German-Jewish

teenager who lived during World War II. She
kept a diary detailing of her experience while
hiding from the German Nazis before they
were captured. Her diary was later published
as the “The Diary of a Young Girl”.

Anne Frank
Autobiography and Memoir

e.g. Nelson Mandela wrote his autobiography

which chronicles the journey from being a
young boy in a remote village in South Africa
to becoming the leader of one of the most
significant political movements of the 20th
century.

Long Walk to Freedom

 Speeches and Interviews

Speeches and interviews of

major cultural and political
figures are also considered
primary sources.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of

Infamy” speech delivered on December 8, 1941
Speeches and Interviews

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy”

speech delivered on December 8, 1941
Other examples of Primary Sources

Other examples of primary sources include:

• letters,
• manuscripts,
• newspapers,
• documents from government agencies,
• photographs,
• audio and video recordings,
• research data,
• objects, and
• artifacts
 Secondary Sources
•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.
•Secondary sources are written “after the fact” – that is at a later
date.
•Secondary sources are works that interpret or analyze historical
events or phenomena. They are accounts or interpretations of
events created by someone without firsthand experience.
•For example, on the subject of
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 19th century
whereas Agoncillo published his work
in 1956, which makes the book a
secondary source.
•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 among
Katipuneros.
 Tertiary Sources

•There is another historical sources called tertiary sources.

Tertiary sources are publications that summarize and digest
the information in primary and secondary sources to provide
background on a topic, idea, or event. These sources do not
provide additional interpretations or analysis of the sources
Encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries are good
examples of tertiary sources.
 Tertiary Sources

•Examples of tertiary sources include bibliographies, databases,

directories, indexes, and timelines that do not provide much textual
insight, but rather organize relevant information and help you to
find other sources, such as primary and secondary sources.
•Other tertiary sources include dictionaries, encyclopedias, manuals,
and textbooks that provide definitions and overviews of a topic
based on primary and secondary sources.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
Why use Primary Sources?
Advantages

•Primary sources provide a window into the past – unfiltered access

to the record of artistic, social, scientific, and political thought and
achievement during the specific period under study, produced by
people living during that period.
•These unique, often profoundly personal, documents and objects
can give a very real sense of what it was like to be alive during a
long-past era.
 Disadvantages

•Primary sources are often incomplete and have little context.

Researchers must use prior knowledge and work with multiple
primary sources to find patterns.
•In analyzing primary sources, researchers move from concrete
observations and facts to questioning and making inferences about
the materials.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
Why use Secondary Sources?
Advantages

•Secondary sources can provide analysis, synthesis, interpretation, or

evaluation of the original information.
•Secondary sources are best for uncovering background or historical
information about a topic and broadening your understanding of a
topic by exposing you to others’ perspectives, interpretations, and
conclusions.
•Allows the reader to get expert views of events and often bring
together multiple primary sources relevant to the subject matter.
 Disadvantages

•Their reliability and validity are open to question, and often they do
not provide exact information.
•They do not represent first hand knowledge of a subject or event.
•There are countless books, journals, magazine articles, and web
pages that attempt to interpret the past and finding good secondary
sources can be an issue.
 Repositories of
Primary Sources
•Sources of history, whether primary or
secondary, come from the past and gives
insight into the period being studied.
Instead of viewing history as a list of dates
and facts, primary sources provide the original
artifacts of historical interpretation.
•They are stored, preserved and accessed from
institutions and sites tasked and dedicated
to give an accurate and clear perspective of
the past.
•For the conduct of historical research there are a lot of
repositories of primary sources. Although it is the
toughest part of studying history, it is also most
rewarding, especially when sources collected becomes
the solid foundation for a scholarly work.
•Both physical, personal and online repositories of
sources abound. The real challenge is to produce
a well-curated collection of materials. An advice
would be the use of the right terminology from the era
under study in order to properly locate significant
materials.
• Materials from libraries, museums and archives are next to
nothing in terms of credibility yet can consume a lot of
time.
• Online or digital sources are abundant are abundant
so researchers have to pore over a great quantity of records,
thus, it could be exhausting. These repositories kept by
the government, public or private institutions are a
veritable stockpile of knowledge.
• Markers and monuments installed by the National
Historical Commission also functions to keep record of
important events and personalities.
• Sometimes special fields are needed to aid the
historians make ends meet in their pursuit of sources.
For example, epigraphy studies the meanings and
significance of inscriptions in monuments could help
in make finding sources meaningful.
•Other special related fields that help historian in
the work are numismatics, paleography
genetics, cryptography, museology, etc.
•Museums is where artifacts and implements
of the past are exhibited and restored. Archive
is a place where old government or church
documents are stored for safekeeping and
research.
•Libraries are depositories of written texts and
other media.
•In the Philippines the National Historical
Commission (NHCP) through its Historic Sites
and Education Division (HSED) “administers and
maintains national shrines, monuments and
landmarks and operates interactive history
museums”.
•Created under RA 10086, among other things, the
NHCP “manage, maintain and administer
national shrines, monuments, historical sites,
edifices and landmarks of significant
historic-cultural value”.
•A number of museums across the country are
found commemorating historically important
persons, events and places.
Examples of Repositories of Primary Sources

• National Archives of the Philippines

• National Library of the Philippines
• National Historical Commission of the Philippines
• National Museum of the Philippines
• UP Main Library
• ADMU Library
• DLSU Library
• Miguel de Benavides Library (formerly UST Central Library)
• HRep Legislative Library Archives and Museum
Historical Criticism
•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
and external and internal criticisms of the source,
especially primary sources which can age in centuries.
 External Criticism

•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.
 Internal Criticism
•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 sources, its context, the agenda behind its creations,
the knowledge which informed it, and its intended
purpose.
 Internal Criticism

•Validating historical sources 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.
 Philippine
Historiography
•Philippine historiography underwent several changes
since the precolonial period until the present.
•Ancient Filipinos narrated their history through communal
songs and epics that they passed orally from a generation to
another.
•When the Spaniards came, their chroniclers started recording
their observations through written accounts. The perspective
of historical writing and inquiry also shifted. The Spanish
colonizers narrated the history of their colony in a bipartite
view. They saw the age before colonization as a dark period
in the history of the islands, until they brought light through
Western thought and Christianity.
•Philippine historiography underwent several
changes since the precolonial period until the
present.
•Early nationalists refuted this perspective and argued
the tripartite view. They saw the precolonial society as
a luminous age that ended with darkness when the
colonizers captured their freedom. They believed the
light would come again once the colonizers were
evicted from the Philippines.
•Filipino historian Zeus Salazar introduced the new
guiding philosophy for writing and teaching
history: pantayong pananaw (for us-from us
perspective). This perspective highlights the
importance of facilitating an internal conversation
and discourse among Filipinos about our own
history, using the language that understood by
everyone.
 Cases of Deception of
Some Historical Sources
Code of Kalantiaw
•The hoax Code of Kalantiaw is one of the most
infamous cases of deception in Philippine History. 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’ war medals
•The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos also claimed that he
was a decorated World War II soldier by students of
history and Marcos had war medals to show.
•This claim, 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
Task of the Historian
•The task of the historian is to look at the available
historical sources and select the most relevant and
meaningful for history and for the subject matter
that he is studying. History does not claim to render
absolute and exact judgment because as long as
questions are continuously asked the study of
history can never be complete.
• The task of the historian is to organize the past
that is being created so that it can offer lessons for
nations, societies, and civilization. It is the
historian’s job to seek for the meaning of
recovering the past to let the people see the
continuing relevance of provenance, memory,
remembering, and historical understanding for both
the present and the future.