DPSS-STELA, Saint Louis University

Readings in
Philippine History

Lecture 3:
The Historian’s
Task in the
Philippines
by Fr. John Schumacher, SJ

August 2018
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Learning Agenda

 Biography of Schumacher
 Schumacher: The historian’s task in the
Philippines
Recovering the past
The formative century
Method in History
Nationalist History
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Who is Fr. John N. Schumacher, S.J.

 Born: 1927 in Buffalo, New York- Died: 2014 in Pasig

 Known as Fr. Jack; entered the Society of Jesus in 1944; in
1948, a missioned seminarian in the Novaliches; ordained a
priest in 1957
 M.A. in Philosophy (Philippines); PHD in Georgetown Univ
 Pioneer: Faculty of the Loyola School of Theology, Ateneo de
Manila in 1965
 Became a Filipino citizen in 1976
 PhD Dissertation: The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895: The
Creation of a Filipino Consciousness, the Making of the
Revolution
 Interest: Church history & Filipino nationalist history
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Who is Fr. John N. Schumacher, S.J.

 In 1991, the Ateneo De Manila University published a

collection of Schumacher’s essays “THE MAKING OF A
NATION: ESSAYS ON NINETEENTH CENTURY
FILIPINO NATIONALISM” which reflects the core
premises of Schumacher about the emergence of FILIPINO
NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS after over 30 years of
historical writing about the Philippines

William M. Abbott, S.J

15 May 2014
On the demise of Fr. Jack
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The Making of a Nation:

Essays on Nineteenth-Century
Filipino Nationalism
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The historian’s task in

the Philippines
 Fr. Jack’s interest in Philippine history---began from his reading
about Rizal’s insistence on the need for Filipinos to understand their
own past
 RIZAL as the framework of studying Philippine history
*Rizal’s annotation of Antonio de Morga’s book Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas : lay foundation for the building of a
nation
*Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo: to provide
solutions to Philippine’s socio-political problems
*Bonifacio, Jacinto & other Filipino revolutionists: found
their literary & nationalist inspiration in Rizal’s writings
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Recovering the Past

 To show that there was “Filipino” history before 1872
 History as a tool: (lack of method than a lack of history)
 The past serving as reference point to the emergence of the events
which led to its creation (image of both past & present)
 Like what Rizal did, William Henry Scott suggests we search at
historical documents & try to find glimpses of a past previously
not elaborated on
 Scott’s Cracks in the Parchment Curtain (Spanish Official
Documents): prevent modern Filipinos to have clear depiction
of history
 Challenge: How to put questions to the documents (unintended
references) --- a question of methodology to uncover the past
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The Formative Century : Schumacher’s insights

about the Philippine Revolution
 Focus of Phil. history: Revolutionary & American colonial
periods
 Problem: what has not been done by historians ---to lay the
necessary foundations for the understanding of the
Revolutionary period
 e.g.1: little research on growth of the non-friar haciendas (Spanish &
Filipino) and its impact on the Filipino life of the 19th century
commercialization of agriculture
 Real history of the Revolution & the war against the Americans:
must include the revolution that took place in all Philippine regions (not
just Cavite, Malolos or Luzon)---to show varying degrees & kinds of
nationalist response in different regions
 Historian’s task: further research of each region has to be done on the
century before the Revolution
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Method in History
 Can history be objective?
1. History is always written from a point of view : Documents
are not self-interpreting; Historian may bring his point of views,
biases and prejudices
2. Observing TRUISM in writing history (19th century
approach to history
 History is a science with laws
 How? Through critical historical method ----use of
documentation; assertions and interpretation based on facts
found on documents; content validity of documents;
government records, memoirs, letters, literary works, books of
prayers, folk art
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Method in History
DOCUMENTS AS SOURCES OF HISTORY
 Official documents
e.g. Declaration of Philippine Independence from Spain
(June 12, 1898)
 Memoirs and letters
e.g. Rizal’s correspondence
 Literary works
e.g. Reynaldo Ileto’s Pasyon and Revolution
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Method in History
 Literary Works can be
sources of history if:
 The historian can formulate
the proper question to them
 Putting new questions of the
past because history never
delivers ready-made answers
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Nationalist History

 An expectation from every

Filipino historian who loves
his country
 A more profound and exact
knowledge of the past will
help the nationalist historian
build the future
 Problem: some “nationalist
history” have obstructed,
instead of promoted, the
national cause
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Example of “obstructionist
nationalist history”
1. Pedro Paterno’s supposed
pre-Hispanic past
 Distorted genuine documents
 Argues about mythical inborn
qualities of race which existed
before Spanish colonization
2. Forgeries of Jose Marco
 Povedano and Pavon
manuscripts and the Code of
Kalantiyaw
 “pseudohistorical” and
 Rectified by W.H. Scott in his
“pseudoethnographic” works;
Prehispanic Sources for the forged signatures of J. Burgos
History of the Philippines
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Synopsis of the La Lobo Negra

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Futility of Reconstructing the Filipino

Past
TENDENCY: One-
dimensional;
Historical fiction – distortion of Philosophical
reality to craft an idealized constructs
image rather than
objective
description of
VERSUS events

TRULY FILIPINO HISTORY

(a history of the Filipino masses and their struggles)
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TRUE FILIPINO PEOPLE’S HISTORY

Historical research that

Filipino people as aims to provide SOCIAL
primary agents of JUSTICE and
their HISTORY PARTICIPATION in all
FILIPINOS
REFORMING AND
Understanding ALL RESHAPING the
ASPECTS of the society toward a
EXPERIENCE OF ALL better future
FILIPINOS (depicting whole
Filipino reality)
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Reference
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