An Introduction to Philippine Historiography: Sources and Discourses

Introduction
• History:
- Study of past events.
• Historians: individuals writing about history
• Historiography
- Practice of Historical Writing
• Traditional method: gathering of documents from different libraries and archives
• Modern method: uses methods from related areas study such archaeology and
geography

Sources of History
● Documents
- Handwritten, printed, drawn, designed, and other composed material.
- 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.

● Archaeological Records
- Preserved remains of human beings, their activities, and the environment where they
lived.
- Callao Man and Tabon Man
- Fossils: remains of animals, plants, and other organisms from the distant past
- Artifacts: remnants of material culture developed by human beings.

● Oral and video accounts

- Audio-visual documentation of people, events, and places.
- Usually recorded in video and audio cassettes, and compact discs.

Kinds of Historical Sources

● Primary Sources
- Documents, physical objects, and oral/video accounts made by an individual or a
group present at the time and place being described.
- Function: To give facts

● Secondary Sources
- Materials made by people long after the events being described had taken place
- Provide valuable interpretations of historical events

Levels of Historical Criticisms

● External Criticisms
- 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 criticisms
 - deals with the credibility and reliability of the content of a given historical source.

Locating Primary Sources

• National Library of the Philippines
- complete microfilm copies of the Philippine Revolutionary Records (1896-1901)
- a compilation captured documents of Emilio Aguinaldo's revolutionary government
- Historical Data Papers (1952-1953)
- the presidential papers of different administrations from Manuel Quezon to Joseph Estrada.

• National Archives of the Philippines

- holds a substantial collection of catalogued and uncatalogued Spanish documents about
the Philippines composed from 1552 to 1900.
- 20th -century documents such as civil records, notarial documents, and Japanese wartime
crime.
- some sources written in Tagalog such as the documents pertinent to Apolinario de la Cruz,
the leader of the Coonfradia de San Jose in the 19th century.

• Academic Institutions
- University of the Philippines
- Ateneo de Manila University
- University of Santo Tomas
- Siliman University
- University of San Carlos City

Colonial Historiography
• Spanish Chroniclers:
- Primacy of colonization to liberate Filipinos from their backward "barbaric" life ways
• American colonial writers
- Rationalizing their colonization of Filipinos as a way to teach the natives of the
"civilized lifestyle"

Philippine Historiography after World War II

• Teodoro Agoncillo:
- His writings veered away from emphasizing Spanish coloniaountry dr istor events
before 1872 as part
• Renato Constantino:
- Advanced the idea of a "people's history" - a study of the past that sought to analyze
society by searching out people's voices from colonial historical materials that
typically rendered Filipinos as decadent, inept and vile.
• Zeus Salazar:
- conceptualized "Pantayong Pananaw" as an approach to understanding the past
from our own cultural frame and language.
• Reynaldo lleto:
- endeavored to recognize the way of thinking of ordinary folks by using alternative
historical sources such as folk songs and prayers.

Political Narratives
 - Most of our national histories today favor narratives that deal with the political
aspects of nation-building such as the legacies of political leaders and
establishment of different government.

Colonial Histories in Historical Narratives

- Up to now, some social studies textbooks misrepresent ancient Filipinos as savages
or barbarians by portraying colonizers, especially the Spaniards and American, as
liberators of the Filipinos from cultural backwardness.

Elite-centric Perspective in Historical Narratives

- Some historical narratives focus on the contributions of the elite in nation-building
such as what the Illustrados (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 20th century.

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.

Definition and Subject Matter

- History has always been known as the study of the past. Students of general
education often dread the subject for its notoriety in requiring them to memorize
dates, places, names, and events from distant eras. This low appreciation of the
discipline may be rooted from the shallow understanding of history's relevance to
their lives and to their respective contexts. While the popular definition of history as
the study of the past is not wrong, it does not give justice to the complexity of the
subject and its importance to human civilization.

- 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. That meaning stuck until the early parts of the twentieth
century. History became an important academic discipline. It became the historian's
duty to write about the lives of important individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints,
and nobilities. History was also focused on writing about wars, revolutions, and other
important breakthroughs. It is thus important to ask: What counts as history?
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
considered as 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.
Nobilities, monarchs, the elite, and even the middle class would have their birth,
education, marriage, and death as matters of government and historical record. But
what of peasant families or indigenous groups who were not given much thought
about being registered to government records? Does the absence of written
documents about them mean that they were people of no history or past? Did they
even exist?

- This loophole was recognized by 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 thigh
analyzirg generic and DNA patterns of human societies.

Outermost part of Phil

● North: Mavulis
● East: Siargao
● West: Palawan
● South: Saluag or Tawi-Tawi

List of regions
● Region I - Ilocos Region
● Region II - Cagayan Valley
● Region III - Central Luzon
● Region IV-A - CALABARZON
● MIMAROPA Region
● Region V - Bicol Region
● Region VI - Western Visayas
● Region VII - Central Visayas
● Region VIII - Eastern Visayas
● Region IX - Zamboanga Peninsulas
● Region X - Northern Mindanao
● Region XI - Davao Region
● Region XII - SOCCSKSARGEN
● Region XIII - Caraga
● NCR - National Capital Region
● CAR - Cordillera Administrative Region
● BARMM - Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
Office Name Term
President Ferdinand R. Marcos June 30, 2022 –
Head of state Jr.

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Secretary of Education
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Jr.(OIC) June 5, 2023
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 Eduardo Año January 14, 2023 –
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the West Philippine
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