HIST 10 – LIFE AND WORKS OF JOSE RIZAL

MODULE 7
DR. JOSE RIZAL’S ANNOTATION OF MORGA’S
HISTORICAL EVENTS OF THE PHILIPPINES AND
SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

A. Explain Rizal’s annotations of Antonio Morga’s Historical Events of the Philippines;
B. Compare and contrast Rizal’s and Morga’s views about the Philippine, the Filipinos,
our history and culture; and
C. Appreciate the importance of Rizal’s annotations in advocating Filipino nationalism.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to History 10: Life and Works of Jose Rizal Module 7. In this module, we will learn
about Rizal’s annotations of Antonio Morga’s Historical Events of the Philippines and his Sucesos de
las Islas Filipinas, compare and contrast Rizal’s and Morga’s views about the Philippines, the
Filipinos, our history and culture and appreciate the importance of Rizal’s annotations in advocating
Filipino nationalism.

ACTIVITY

I. Direction: Identify five positive and five negative attributes of Filipinos based on remarks
given by people from other countries.

Positive Attributes of Filipinos Negative Attributes of Filipinos

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.

II. Direction: Write your personal defense against the negative remarks of foreign people
about the Filipino attributes.

Negative Attributes of Filipinos Personal Defense

1.
2.

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
3.
4.
5.

ABSTRACTION

Lesson 1 - Rizal’s Annotations of Antonio Morga’s

Historical Events of the Philippines
Rizal’s thesis statement in his annotations is “that Spanish colonization retarded, rather than
brought civilization to, the Philippines and its inhabitants.” This is, maybe, one of so many reasons
why Jose Rizal wanted to look at the past of his country through the eyes of an Indio vis-à-vis
Morga’s notion to the Indios.

An article by Albert Ocampo attempts to place Rizal’s Morga within the framework of his
work, as well as in the larger context of the Philippine historiography. Rizal’s Morga may not have
been read widely, but its significance lies in the fact that with this edition, Rizal began the task of
writing the Philippine history from the viewpoint of a Filipino

Challenges of Rizal’s Morga

 Minor Writing or Secondary
 Largely unread and ignored (even today)
 Banned in the Philippines in the 19th century
 Copies are confiscated by Spanish customs in Manila and other ports.
 Thus, the book attained “rare” and “out of print” status
 It did not have second printing and few copies in circulation were left hidden and unread by
frightened owners.

Philippine History
 “Rizal is rewriting the Philippine History”
 What does it mean by “Philippine History”?
 Does it refer to the “history of the place” or “the history of the people of the place”?
 “Filipino”
 “The Filipino Nation”
 Filipino - Rizal’s time
 The Filipino Nation – Philippine republic under Aguinaldo in 1898.

Philippine History
 Philippine history = history of the place
 Then, Rizal rewrite history • Philippine History = Filipinos
 Then, Rizal actually writing the Philippine history
 Whatever the conclusions are!
 Rizal’s Morga was the first historical work on the Philippines by a Filipino

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  Rizal’s Morga was the first history written from the point of view of the colonized not
colonizer

Rizal’s Morga
 Noli me tangere, in late February 1887
 He realized the importance of the past as a tool to understand the present and eventually
confront the future.
 August 1888, began to work on his country’s history.
 Reinhold Rost – director of the India Office Library, British Museum
 By the end of September 1889, Rizal brought the Manuscript to Paris
 Rizal request F. Blumentritt to write an Introduction

Rizal’s Morga
 Spanish Title: Sucesos de las islas Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de Morga. Obra publicada
en Mejico en el aňo de 1609, nuevamente sacada a luz y anotada por Jose Rizal, y precedida
de un prologo del prof. Fernando Blumentritt.
 Translation: Events in the Philippine Islands by Dr. Antonio de Morga. A work published in
Mexico in the year 1609, reprinted and annotated by Jose Rizal and preceded by an
introduction by Professor Ferdinand Blumentritt.

Antonio de Morga Short Biography

 Born: 29 November 1559, Seville, Spain
 Died: 21 July 1636, Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador
 Nationality: Spanish
 Education: University of Salamanca
 He graduated in the university of Salamanca in 1574
 Doctorate in Canon Law, 1578
 He taught briefly in University Osuna, Kingdom of Seville, Spain
 Later, returned to Salamanca to study Civil Law
 He joined the government service in 1580
 In 1593, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor in Manila
 (Note: Lieutenant Governor – the second most powerful position in the colony, next to the
Governor General of the Philippines)
 In 1598, he resigned his post to assume the office of oidor or judge in the Audiencia.
 (Note: Audiencia - a high court of justice in a Spanish colony frequently exercising military
power as well as judicial and political functions)

Antonio de Morga Sánchez Garay was a Spanish soldier, lawyer and a high-ranking colonial
official for 43 years, in the Philippines, New Spain and Peru, where he was president of the Real
Audiencia for 20 years. He was also a historian.

Sucesos de las islas Filipinas

 It is claimed as a way of saving face after the disaster with the Dutch invaders in Manila in
1600. • It is the Morga’s version of the battle of Manila Bay left in history.
 It consists of eight (8) chapters
1. Of the first discoveries of the Eastern islands,

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
 2. Of the government of Dr. Francisco de Sande.
3. Of the government of don Gonzalo Roquillo de Peňalosa,
4. Of the government of Dr. Santiago de Vera,
5. Of the government of Gomes Perez Dasmariňas,
6. Of the government of don Francisco Tello,
7. Of the government of don Pedro de Acuňa,
8. An account of the Philippine Islands.

Sucesos del las islas Filipinas

 The first seven (7) Chapters mainly concern the POLITICAL events during the terms of the
first eleven (11) governor-general in the Philippines (Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, 1565 to Pedro
de Acuňa, June 1606).
 Chapter 8 – gives description of the pre-Hispanic Filipino - indispensable for Rizal, it helps
him reconstruct the pre-Hispanic Philippines Note: In his Preface to the Morga, Rizal states
that he did not change a single word in the text, save those that required respelling in modern
Spanish orthography or corrected punctuation.

Rizal’s Choice of Morga

1. Morga’s book was rare;
2. Morga was a layman not a religious chronicler;
3. Morga was more “objective” than the religious writers;
4. Morga was more sympathetic to indios;
5. Morga was not only an eyewitness but a major actor in the events he narrated.

Rizal’s first consideration for the choice of Morga:

 Morga’s book was rare;
 It was originally published in Mexico in 1609, and therefore was rare.
 It had never been reprinted in full until the annotated Rizal edition came off the press of
Garnier Hermanos in Paris in 1889.
 However, after the Rizal edition, there was a magnificent and most accurate edition by
Wenceslao Emilio Retana, 1909. Wenceslao Emilio Retana Wenceslao "Wenchesco" Emilio
Retana y Gamboa, also known as W.E. Retana or Wenceslao E. Retana, was a 19th-century
Spanish civil servant, colonial administrator, writer, biographer, political commentator,
publisher, bibliophile, bibliographer, Filipiniana collector, Spanish filipinologist, and
Philippine scholar. Born: 28 September 1862, Boadilla del Monte, Spain Died: 21 January
1924, Madrid, Spain Nationality: Spanish

Rizal’s first consideration for the choice of Morga

It was invaluable because it is coming from the Primary material, Morga himself and other
contemporaries, coming from the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, which amplifies and enrich
the main text. However, it is not accessible to those who cannot read Spanish. oStanley’s English
edition of Morga was more popular and satisfactory. Rizal’s first consideration for the choice of
Morga stand on the principle that the annotation to Morga should be made not by foreigner but by an
Indio.

Rizal’s second consideration for the choice of Morga

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
 It was the only civil, as opposed to religious or ecclesiastical, history of the Philippines
written during the colonial period. - Chronicles by Spanish colonial officials (or non-religious) were
rare, thus, Morga was the only secular general history of the Philippines in Print (Retana 1906) -
(main complaint) Religious historians dealt more with the church history than the history of the place
and its people. - The histories of the Philippines written during the colonial period were just a chapter
in the larger history of Spain. - It was a history of Spain in the Philippines. - Only during Rizal’s
edition, the real history of the Philippines was written by and from the viewpoint of an Indio.

Rizal’s third consideration for the choice of Morga

Morga’s account was more objective, more trustworthy, than those written by the religious
missionaries-sprinkled with tales of miracles and apparitions. “All the histories written by the
religious before and after Morga, up to our days, abound with stories of devils, miracles, apparitions,
etc. These form the bulk of the voluminous histories of the Philippines (Rizal 1890, 311 n. 1)

Rizal’s annotations fall into two categories:

1. It was straight-forward historical annotation, where Rizal amplifies or corrects the original;
2. It was an annotation which, though historically based, reflect his anticlerical bias. (Note: The
second is something not to be expected in a scholarly work.)

Example of his biases:

 Rizal branded religious interpretations of events as “pious lies”.
 Their (friars) aims was not to record history as is, but to document the achievements of their
religious orders and, more importantly, to uplift their readers
 Friars chronicles cannot be described as history in the modern sense, but as a narrative with a
moral lesson. - These chronicles were written to encourage religious vocations or material
donations for the missions in Asia.

Morga vs Friars
 Rizal commented on the work of Diego de Aduarte, a Dominican, “although it was pleasant,
charming, animated, and written in a picturesque style, it was marred by gaps, contradictions,
and distortions,” “unlike Morga, who was more “faithful as a chronicler of his time. . . if he
covers up many things for political reasons . . . he never distorts events” (Rizal 1890)

Rizal’s fourth consideration for the choice of Morga

Morga was more sympathetic, at least in parts, to the indios, in contrast to the friars’ accounts.
In his letter to Blumentritt, on September 17, 1888, Rizal expressed his preference for Morga: “The
Morga is an excellent book; it can be said that Morga is a modern explorer. He has nothing of the
superficiality and exaggeration so typical of present-day Spaniards. He writes very simply, but in
reading him there is much between the lines because he was governor general in the Philippines and
after, head of the Inquisition (Epistolario 1938, 5:308)

Rizal’s fifth consideration for the choice of Morga

Morga was an eyewitness, and therefore a primary source, on the Philippines and its people at
the point of first contact with Spain. - Rizal spoke highly of Morga’s integrity as a colonial official in
Manila.

Rizal’s Arguments

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
  He emphasized the need for an Indio interpretation of history, while on another recreating the
glories of the lost pre-Hispanic Philippines.  He argued that the pre-Hispanic Filipinos had
their own culture before 1521, and thus were not saved from barbarism, and did not require
“civilization” or a new religion from Spain.  He insists that the flourishing pre-Hispanic
Philippine civilization could have developed on its own into something great.

 He emphasizes that the pre-Hispanic civilization had metallurgy, ship-building industry, trade
contacts with China, and even a system of writing and accompanying literature.  ALL
THESE WERE OBLITERATED, RUINED BY SPANISH COLONIZATION!!!

Criticism on Rizal’s Annotation

 Historical revision is always met with varying degrees of opposition. Blumentritt criticisms:
o Rizal censure the events of past centuries according to the concepts that correspond to
contemporary ideas.
o Against Catholicism.

 Rizal used history as a propaganda weapon against the abuses of the colonial Spaniards.
o The problem with Rizal is his ambiguity.
o Rizal’s Morga was deemed too historical, too scholarly for propagandists.
o Too biased, too much a work of propaganda.

 He tried to use history and historical revision to create a sense of national consciousness or
identity.

(About the Author He is a Filipino historian best known for his writings about Philippines' national
hero José Rizal and for Looking Back, his bi-weekly editorial page column in the Philippine Daily
Inquirer. He served as the Chairman of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (2002-
2011) and concurrently Chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in (2005-
2007)

Lesson 2 – Rizal’s Annotations of Antonio Morga’s

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
To the Filipinos: In Noli Me Tangere I started to sketch the present state of our native land. But the
effect which my effort produced made me realize that, before attempting to unroll before your eyes
the other pictures which were to follow, it was necessary first to post you on the past. So only can
you fairly judge the present and estimate how much progress has been made during the three
centuries (of Spanish rule).

(Dr. Jose P. Rizal, center beside Marcelo H. Del Pilar and other Filipinos in Madrid, Spain,
1890.)

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
Like almost all of you, I was born and brought up in ignorance of our country's past and so, without
knowledge or authority to speak of what I neither saw nor have studied, I deem it necessary to
quote the testimony of an illustrious Spaniard who in the beginning of the new era controlled the
destinies of the Philippines and had personal knowledge of our ancient nationality in its last days.
It is then the shade of our ancestor's civilization which the author will call before you... If the work
serves to awaken in you a consciousness of our past, and to blot from your memory or to rectify
what has been falsified or is calumny, then I shall not have labored in vain. With this preparation,
slight though it be, we can all pass to the study of the future.

JOSE RIZAL, Europe, 1889.

Governor Antonio de Morga was not only the first to write but also the first to publish a Philippine
history. This statement has regard to the concise and concrete form in which our author has treated
the matter. Father Chirino's work, printed at Rome in 1604, is rather a chronicle of the Missions
than a history of the Philippines; still, it contains a great deal of valuable material on usages and
customs. The worthy Jesuit in fact admits that he abandoned writing a political history because
Morga had already done so, so one must infer that he had seen the work in manuscript before
leaving the Islands.

 By the Christian religion, Doctor Morga appears to mean the Roman Catholic which by fire
and sword he would preserve in its purity in the Philippines. Nevertheless, in other lands,
notably in Flanders, these means were ineffective to keep the church unchanged, or to
maintain its supremacy, or even to hold its subjects.

 Great kingdoms were indeed discovered and conquered in the remote and unknown parts of
the world by Spanish ships but to the Spaniards who sailed in them we may add Portuguese,
Italians, French, Greeks, and even Africans and Polynesians. The expeditions captained by
Columbus and Magellan, one a Genoese Italian and the other a Portuguese, as well as those
that came after them, although Spanish fleets, still were manned by many nationalities and
in them went negroes, Moluccans, and even men from the Philippines and the Marianes
Islands.

 Three centuries ago, it was the custom to write as intolerantly as Morga does, but nowadays
it would be called a bit presumptuous. No one has a monopoly of the true God nor is there
any nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that to it has been given the
exclusive right to the Creator of all things or sole knowledge of His real being.

 The conversions by the Spaniards were not as general as their historians’ claim. The
missionaries only succeeded in converting a part of the people of the Philippines. Still there
are Mahometans, the Moros, in the southern islands, and negritos, igorots and other
heathens yet occupy the greater part territorially of the archipelago. Then the islands which
the Spaniards early held but soon lost are non-Christian-Formosa, Borneo, and the
Moluccas. And if there are Christians in the Carolines, that is due to Protestants, whom
neither the Roman Catholics of Morga's day nor many Catholics in our own day consider
Christians.

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 It is not the fact that the Filipinos were unprotected before the coming of the Spaniards.
Morga himself says, further on in telling of the pirate raids from the south, that previous to
the Spanish domination the islands had arms and defended themselves. But after the natives
were disarmed the pirates pillaged them with impunity, coming at times when they were
unprotected by the government, which was the reason for many of the insurrections.

 The civilization of the Pre-Spanish Filipinos in regard to the duties of life for that age was
well advanced, as the Morga history shows in its eighth chapter.

 The islands came under Spanish sovereignty and control through compacts, treaties of
friendship and alliances for reciprocity. By virtue of the last arrangement, according to
some historians, Magellan lost his life on Mactan and the soldiers of Legaspi fought under
the banner of King Tupas of Cebu.

 The term "conquest" is admissible but for a part of the islands and then only in its broadest
sense. Cebu, Panay, Luzon Mindoro and some others cannot be said to have been
conquered.

 The discovery, conquest and conversion cost Spanish blood but still more Filipino blood. It
will be seen later on in Morga that with the Spaniards and on behalf of Spain there were
always more Filipinos fighting than Spaniards.

 Morga shows that the ancient Filipinos had army and navy with artillery and other
implements of warfare. Their prized krises and kampilans for their magnificent temper are
worthy of admiration and some of them are richly damascened. Their coats of mail and
helmets, of which there are specimens in various European museums, attest their great
advancement in this industry.

 Morga's expression that the Spaniards "brought war to the gates of the Filipinos" is in
marked contrast with the word used by subsequent historians whenever recording Spain's
possessing herself of a province, that she pacified it. Perhaps "to make peace" then meant
the same as "to stir up war." (This is a veiled allusion to the old Latin saying of Romans,
often quoted by Spaniard's, that they made a desert, calling it making peace. -C.)

Magellan's transferring from the service of his own king to employment under the King of
Spain, according to historic documents, was because the Portuguese King had refused to
grant him the raise in salary which he asked.

 Now it is known that Magellan was mistaken when he represented to the King of Spain that
the Molucca Islands were within the limits assigned by the Pope to the Spaniards. But
through this error and the inaccuracy of the nautical instruments of that time, the
Philippines did not fall into the hands of the Portuguese.

 Cebu, which Morga calls "The City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus," was at first called
"The village of San Miguel."

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 The image of the Holy Child of Cebu, which many religious writers believed was brought
to Cebu by the angels, was in fact given by the worthy Italian chronicler of Magellan's
expedition, the Chevalier Pigafetta, to the Cebuan queen.

 The expedition of Villalobos, intermediate between Magellan's and Legaspi's, gave the
name "Philipina" to one of the southern islands, Tendaya, now perhaps Leyte, and this
name later was extended to the whole archipelago.

 Of the native Manila rulers at the coming of the Spaniards, Raja Soliman was called
"Rahang mura", or young king, in distinction from the old king, "Rahang matanda".
Historians have confused these personages. The native fort at the mouth of the Pasig River,
which Morga speaks of as equipped with brass lantakas and artillery of larger caliber, had
its ramparts reenforced with thick hardwood posts such as the Tagalogs used for their
houses and called "harigues", or "haligui".

 Morga has evidently confused the pacific coming of Legaspi with the attack of Goiti and
Salcedo, as to date. According to other historians it was in 1570 that Manila was burned,
and with it a great plant for manufacturing artillery. Goiti did not take posession of the city
but withdrew to Cavite and afterwards to Panay, which makes one suspicious of his alleged
victory. As to the day of the date, the Spaniards then, having come following the course of
the sun, were some sixteen hours later than Europe. This condition continued till the end of
the year 1844, when the 31st of December was by special arrangement among the
authorities dropped from the calendar for that year. Accordingly, Legaspi did not arrive in
Manila on the 19th but on the 20th of May and consequently it was not on the festival of
Santa Potenciana but on San Baudelio's day. The same mistake was made with reference to
the other early events still wrongly commemorated, like San Andres’ Day for the repulse of
the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong.

 Though not mentioned by Morga, the Cebuans aided the Spaniards in their expedition
against Manila, for which reason they were long exempted from tribute.

 The southern islands, the Bisayas, were also called "The land of the Painted People (or
Pintados, in Spanish)" because the natives had their bodies decorated with tracings made
with fire, somewhat like tattooing.

 The Spaniards retained the native name for the new capital of the archipelago, a little
changed, however, for the Tagalogs had called their city "Maynila."

 When Morga says that the lands were "entrusted" (given as encomiendas) to those who had
"pacified" them, he means "divided up among." The word "en trust," like "pacify," later
came to have a sort of ironical signification. To entrust a province was then as if it were
said that it was turned over to sack, abandoned to the cruelty and covetousness of the
encomendero, to judge from the way these gentry misbehaved.

 Legaspi's grandson, Salcedo, called the Hernando Cortez of the Philippines, was the
"conqueror's" intelligent right arm and the hero of the "conquest." His honesty and fine
qualities, talent and personal bravery, all won the admiration of the Filipinos. Because of

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 him they yielded to their enemies, making peace and friendship with the Spaniards. He it
was who saved Manila from Li Ma-hong. He died at the early age of twenty-seven and is
the only encomendero recorded to have left the great part of his possessions to the Indians
of his encomienda. Vigan was his encomienda and the Ilokanos there were his heirs.

 The expedition which followed the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong, after his unsuccessful
attack upon Manila, to Pangasinan province, with the Spaniards of whom Morga tells, had
in it 1,500 friendly Indians from Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Panay, besides the many others
serving as laborers and crews of the ships. Former Raja Lakandola, of Tondo, with his sons
and his kinsmen went, too, with 200 more Bisayans and they were joined by other Filipinos
in Pangasinan.

 If discovery and occupation justify annexation, then Borneo ought to belong to Spain. In the
Spanish expedition to replace on its throne a Sirela or Malaela, as he is variously called,
who had been driven out by his brother, more than fifteen hundred Filipino bowmen from
the provinces of Pangasinan, Kagayan, and the Bisayas participated.

 It is notable how strictly the earlier Spanish governors were held to account. Some stayed in
Manila as prisoners, one, Governor Corcuera, passing five years with Fort Santiago as his
prison.

 In the fruitless expedition against the Portuguese in the island of Ternate, in the Molucca
group, which was abandoned because of the prevalence of beriberi among the troops, there
went 1,500 Filipino soldiers from the more warlike provinces, principally Kagayans and
Pampangans.

 The "pacification" of Kagayan was accomplished by taking advantage of the jealousies

among its people, particularly the rivalry between two brothers who were chiefs. An early
historian asserts that without this fortunate circumstance, for the Spaniards, it would have
been impossible to subjugate them.

 Captain Gabriel de Rivera, a Spanish commander who had gained fame in a raid on Borneo
and the Malacca coast, was the first envoy from the Philippines to take up with the King of
Spain the needs of the archipelago.

 The early conspiracy of the Manila and Pampangan former chiefs was revealed to the
Spaniards by a Filipina, the wife of a soldier, and many concerned lost their lives.

 The artillery cast for the new stone fort in Manila, says Morga, was by the hand of an
ancient Filipino. That is, he knew how to cast cannon even before the coming of the
Spaniards, hence he was distinguished as 4"ancient." In this difficult art of ironworking, as
in so many others, the modern or present-day Filipinos are not so far advanced as were their
ancestors.

 When the English freeboother Cavendish captured the Mexican galleon Santa Ana, with
122,000 gold pesos, a great quantity of rich textiles-silks, satins and damask, musk
perfume, and stores of provisions, he took 150 prisoners. All these because of their brave

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SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
 defense were put ashore with ample supplies, except two Japanese lads, three Filipinos, a
Portuguese and a skilled Spanish pilot whom he kept as guides in his further voyaging.

 From the earliset Spanish days ships were built in the islands, which might be considered
evidence of native culture. Nowadays this industry is reduced to small craft, scows and
coasters.

 The Jesuit, Father Alonso Sanchez, who visited the papal court at Rome and the Spanish
King at Madrid, had a mission much like that of deputies now, but of even greater
importance since he came to be a sort of counsellor or representative to the absolute
monarch of that epoch. One wonders why the Philippines could have a representative then
but may not have one now.

 In the time of Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinias, Manila was guarded against further
damage such as was suffered from Li Ma-hong by the construction of a massive stone wall
around it. This was accomplished "without expense to the royal treasury." The same
governor, in like manner, also fortified the point at the entrance to the river where had been
the ancient native fort of wood, and he gave it the name Fort Santiago.

 The early cathedral of wood which was burned through carelessness at the time of the
funeral of Governor Dasmarifias' predecessor, Governor Ronquillo, was made, according to
the Jesuit historian Chirino, with hardwood pillars around which two men could not reach,
and in harmony with this massiveness was all the woodwork above and below. It may be
surmised from these how hard workers were the Filipinos of that time.

 A stone house for the bishop was built before starting on the governor-general's residence.
This precedence is interesting for those who uphold the civil power. Morga's mention of the
scant output of large artillery from the Manila cannon works because of lack of master
foundrymen shows that after the death of the Filipino Panday Pira there were not Spaniards
skilled enough to take his place, nor were his sons as expert as he.

 It is worthy of note that China, Japan and Cambodia at this time-maintained relations with
the Philippines. But in our day, it has been more than a century since the natives of the
latter two countries have come here. The causes which ended the relationship may be found
in the interference by the religious orders with the institutions of those lands.

 For Governor Dasmarinas' expedition to conquer Ternate, in the Moluccan group, two
Jesuits there gave secret information. In his 200 ships, besides 900 Spaniards, there must
have been Filipinos for one chronicler speaks of Indians, as the Spaniards called the natives
of the Philippines, who lost their lives and others who were made captives when the
Chinese rowers mutinied. It was the custom then always to have a thousand or more native
bowmen and besides the crew were almost all Filipinos, for the most part Bisayans.

 The historian Argensola, in telling of four special galleys for Dasmarinas' expedition, says
that they were manned by an expedient which was generally considered rather harsh. It was
ordered that there be bought enough of the Indians who were slaves of the former Indian
chiefs, or principales, to form these crews, and the price, that which had been customary in

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 pre-Spanish times, was to be advanced by the encomenderos who later would be reimbursed
from the royal treasury. In spite of this promised compensation, the measures still seemed
severe since those Filipinos were not correct in calling their dependents slaves. The masters
treated these, and loved them, like sons rather, for they seated them at their own tables an
gave them their own daughters in marriage.

 Morga says that the 250 Chinese oarsmen who manned Governor Dasmariias' swift galley
were under pay and had the special favor of not being chained to their benches. According
to him it was covetousness of the wealth aboard that led them to revolt and kill the
governor. But the historian Gaspar de San Agustin states that the reason for the revolt was
the governor's abusive language and his threatening the rowers. Both these authors'
allegations may have contributed, but more important was the fact that there was no law to
compel these Chinamen to row in the galleys. They had come to Manila to engage in
commerce or to work in trades or to follow professions. Still the incident contradicts the
reputation for enduring everything which they have had. The Filipinos have been much
more long-suffering than the Chinese since, in spite of having been obliged to row on more
than one occasion, they never mutinied.

 It is difficult to excuse the missionaries' disregard of the laws of nations and the usages of
honorable politics in their interference in Cambodia on the ground that it was to spread the
Faith. Religion had a broad field awaiting it then in the Philippines where more than nine-
tenths of the natives were infidels. That even now there are to be found here so many tribes
and settlements of non-Christians takes away much of the prestige of that religious zeal
which in the easy life in towns of wealth, liberal and fond of display, grows lethargic. Truth
is that the ancient activity was scarcely for the Faith alone, because the missionaries had to
go to islands rich in spices and gold though there were at hand Mahometans and Jews in
Spain and Africa, Indians by the million in the Americas, and more millions of protestants,
schismatics and heretics peopled, and still people, over six-sevenths of Europe. All of these
doubtless would have accepted the Light and the true religion if the friars, under pretext of
preaching to them, had not abused their hospitality and if behind the name Religion had not
lurked the unnamed Domination.

 In the attempt made by Rodriguez de Figueroa to conquer Mindanao according to his

contract with the King of Spain, there was fighting along the Rio Grande with the people
called the Buhahayenes. Their general, according to Argensola, was the celebrated Silonga,
later distinguished for many deeds in raids on the Bisayas and adjacent islands. Chirino
relates an anecdote of his coolness under fire once during a truce for a marriage among
Mindanao "principalia." Young Spaniards out of bravado fired at his feet but he passed on
as if unconscious of the bullets.

 Argensola has preserved the name of the Filipino who killed Rodriguez de Figueroa. It was
Ubal. Two days previously he had given a banquet, slaying for it a beef animal of his own,
and then made the promise which he kept, to do away with the leader of the Spanish
invaders. A Jesuit writer calls him a traitor though the justification for that term of reproach
is not apparent. The Buhahayen people were in their own country, and had neither offended
nor declared war upon the Spaniards. They had to defend their homes against a powerful
invader, with superior forces, many of whom were, by reason of their armor, invulnerable

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 so far as rude Indians were concerned. Yet these same Indians were defenseless against the
balls from their muskets. By the Jesuit's line of reasoning, the heroic Spanish peasantry in
their war for independence would have been a people even more treacherous. It was not
Ubal's fault that he was not seen and, as it was wartime, it would have been the height of
folly, in view of the immense disparity of arms, to have first called out to this preoccupied
opponent, and then been killed himself.

 The muskets used by the Buhahayens were probably some that had belonged to Figueroa's
soldiers who had died in battle. Though the Philippines had lantakas and other artillery,
muskets were unknown till the Spaniards came.

 That the Spaniards used the word "discover" very carelessly may be seen from an admiral's
turning in a report of his "discovery" of the Solomon Islands though he noted that the
islands had been discovered before.

 Death has always been the first sign of European civilization on its introduction in the
Pacific Ocean. God grant that it may not be the last, though to judge by statistics the
civilized islands are losing their populations at a terrible rate. Magellan himself inaugurated
his arrival in the Marianes islands by burning more than forty houses, many small craft and
seven people because one of his boats had been stolen. Yet to the simple savages the act
had nothing wrong in it but was done with the same naturalness that civilized people hunt,
fish, and subjugate people that are weak or ill-armed.

 The Spanish historians of the Philippines never overlook any opportunity, be it suspicion or
accident, that may be twisted into something unfavorable to the Filipinos. They seem to
forget that in almost every case the reason for the rupture has been some act of those who
were pretending to civilize helpless peoples by force of arms and at the cost of their native
land. What would these same writers have said if the crimes committed by the Spaniards,
the Portuguese and the Dutch in their colonies had been committed by the islanders?

 The Japanese were not in error when they suspected the Spanish and Portuguese religious
propaganda to have political motives back of the missionary activities. Witness the
Moluccas where Spanish missionaries served as spies; Cambodia, which it was sought to
conquer under cloak of converting; and many other nations, among them the Filipinos,
where the sacrament of baptism made of the inhabitants not only subjects of the King of
Spain but also slaves of the encomenderos, and as well slaves of the churches and convents.
What would Japan have been now had not its emperors uprooted Catholicism? A
missionary record of 1625 sets forth that the King of Spain had arranged with certain
members of Philippine religious orders that, under guise of preaching the faith and making
Christians, they should win over the Japanese and oblige them to make themselves of the
Spanish party, and finally it told of a plan whereby the King of Spain should become also
King of Japan. In corroboration of this may be cited the claims that Japan fell within the
Pope's demarcation lines for Spanish expansion and so there was complaint of missionaries
other than Spanish there. Therefore, it was not for religion that they were converting the
infidels!

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 The raid by Datus Sali and Silonga of Mindanao, in 1599 with 50 sailing vessels and 3,000
warriors, against the capital of Panay, is the first act of piracy by the inhabitants of the
South which is recorded in Philippine history. I say "by the inhabitants of the South"
because earlier there had been other acts of piracy, the earliest being that of Magellan's
expedition when it seized the shipping of friendly islands and even of those whom they did
not know, extorting for them heavy ransoms. It will be remembered that these Moro
piracies continued for more than two centuries, during which the indomitable sons of the
South made captives and carried fire and sword not only in neighboring islands but into
Manila Bay to Malate, to the very gates of the capital, and not once a year merely but at
times repeating their raids five and six times in a single season. Yet the government was
unable to repel them or to defend the people whom it had disarmed and left without
protection. Estimating that the cost to the islands was but 800 victims a year, still the total
would be more than 200,000 persons sold into slavery or killed, all sacrificed together with
so many other things to the prestige of that empty title, Spanish sovereignty.

 Still the Spaniards say that the Filipinos have contributed nothing to Mother Spain, and that
it is the islands which owe everything. It may be so, but what about the enormous sum of
gold which was taken from the islands in the early years of Spanish rule, of the tributes
collected by the encomenderos, of the nine million dollars yearly collected to pay the
military, expenses of the employees, diplomatic agents, corporations and the like, charged
to the Philippines, with salaries paid out of the Philippine treasury not only for those who
come to the Philippines but also for those who leave, to some who never have been and
never will be in the islands, as well as to others who have nothing to do with them. Yet all
of this is as nothing in comparison with so many captives gone, such a great number of
soldiers killed in expeditions, islands depopulated, their inhabitants sold as slaves by the
Spaniards themselves, the death of industry, the demoralization of the Filipinos, and so
forth, and so forth. Enormous indeed would the benefits which that sacred civilization
brought to the archipelago have to be in order to counterbalance so heavy a-cost.

 While Japan was preparing to invade the Philippines, these islands were sending
expeditions to Tonquin and Cambodia, leaving the homeland helpless even against the
undisciplined hordes from the South, so obsessed were the Spaniards with the idea of
making conquests.

 In the alleged victory of Morga over the Dutch ships, the latter found upon the bodies of
five Spaniards, who lost their lives in that combat, little silver boxes filled with prayers and
invocations to the saints. Here would seem to be the origin of the anting-anting of the
modern tulisanes, which are also of a religious character.

 In Morga's time, the Philippines exported silk to Japan whence now comes the best quality
of that merchandise.

 Morga's views upon the failure of Governor Pedro de Acunia's ambitious expedition against
the Moros unhappily still apply for the same conditions yet exist. For fear of uprisings and
loss of Spain's sovereignty over the islands, the inhabitants were disarmed, leaving them
exposed to the harassing of a powerful and dreaded enemy. Even now, though the use of
steam vessels has put an end to piracy from outside, the same fatal system still is followed.

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 The peaceful countryfolk are deprived of arms and thus made unable to defend themselves
against the bandits, or tulisanes, which the government cannot restrain. It is an
encouragement to banditry thus to make easy it getting booty.

 Hernando de los Rios blames these Moluccan wars for the fact that at first the Philippines
were a source of expense to Spain instead of profitable in spite of the tremendous sacrifices
of the Filipinos, their practically gratuitous labor in building and equipping the galleons,
and despite, too, the tribute, tariffs and other imposts and monopolies. These wars to gain
the Moluccas, which soon were lost forever with the little that had been so laboriously
obtained, were a heavy drain upon the Philippines. They depopulated the country and
bankrupted the treasury, with not the slightest compensating benefit. True also is it that it
was to gain the Moluccas that Spain kept the Philippines, the desire for the rich spice
islands being one of the most powerful arguments when, because of their expense to him,
the King thought of withdrawing and abandoning them.

 Among the Filipinos who aided the government when the Manila Chinese revolted,
Argensola says there were 4,000 Pampangans "armed after the way of their land, with bows
and arrows, short lances, shields, and broad and long daggers." Some Spanish writers say
that the Japanese volunteers and the Filipinos showed themselves cruel in slaughtering the
Chinese refugees. This may very well have been so, considering the hatred and rancor then
existing, but those in command set the example.

 The loss of two Mexican galleons in 1603 called forth no comment from the religious
chroniclers who were accustomed to see the avenging hand of God in the misfortunes and
accidents of their enemies. Yet there were repeated shipwrecks of the vessels that carried
from the Philippines wealth which encomenderos had extorted from the Filipinos, using
force, or making their own laws, and, when not using these open means, cheating by the
weights and measures.

 The Filipino chiefs who at their own expense went with the Spanish expedition against
Ternate, in the Moluccas, in 1605, were Don Guillermo Palaot, maestro de campo, and
Captains Francisco Palaot, Juan Lit, Luis Lont, and Agustin Lont. They had with them 400
Tagalogs and Pampangans. The leaders bore themselves bravely for Argensola writes that
in the assault on Ternate, "No officer, Spaniard or Indian, went unscathed."

 The Cebuanos drew a pattern on the skin before starting in to tattoo. The Bisayan usage
then was the same procedure that the Japanese today follow.

 Ancient traditions ascribe the origin of the Malay Filipinos to the island of Sumatra. These
traditions were almost completely lost as well as the mythology and the genealogies of
which the early historians tell, thanks to the zeal of the missionaries in eradicating all
national remembrances as heathen or idolatrous. The study of ethnology is restoring this
somewhat.

 The chiefs used to wear upper garments, usually of Indian fine gauze according to Colin, of
red color, a shade for which they had the same fondness that the Romans had. The

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 barbarous tribes in Mindanao still have the same taste.

 The "easy virtue" of the native women that historians note is not solely attributable to the
simplicity with which they obeyed their natural instincts but much more due to a religious
belief of which Father Chirino tells. It was that in the journey after death to "Kalualhatian,"
the abode of the spirit, there was a dangerous river to cross that had no bridge other than a
very narrow strip of wood over which a woman could not pass unless she had a husband or
lover to extend a hand to assist her. Furthermore, the religious annals of the early missions
are filled with countless instances where native maidens chose death rather than sacrifice
their chastity to the threats and violence of encomenderos and Spanish soldiers. As to the
mercenary social evil, that is worldwide and there is no nation that can 'throw the first stone'
at any other. For the rest, today the Philippines has no reason to blush in comparing its
womankind with the women of the most chaste nation in the world.

 Morga's remark that the Filipinos like fish better when it is commencing to turn bad is
another of those prejudices which Spaniards like all other nations, have. In matters of food,
each is nauseated with what he is unaccustomed to or doesn't know is eatable. The English,
for example, find their gorge rising when they see a Spaniard eating snails, while in turn the
Spanish find roast beef English-style repugnant and can't understand the relish of other
Europeans for beefsteak a la Tartar which to them is simply raw meat. The Chinaman, who
likes shark's meat, cannot bear Roquefort cheese, and these examples might be indefinitely
extended. The Filipinos' favorite fish dish is the bagong and whoever has tried to eat it
knows that it is not considered improved when tainted. It neither is, nor ought to be,
decayed.

 Colin says the ancient Filipinos had minstrels who had memorized songs telling their
genealogies and of the deeds ascribed to their deities. These were chanted on voyages in
cadence with the rowing, or at festivals, or funerals, or wherever there happened to be any
considerable gatherings. It is regrettable that these chants have not been preserved as from
them it would have been possible to learn much of the Filipinos' past and possibly of the
history of neighboring islands.

 The cannon foundry mentioned by Morga as in the walled city was probably on the site of
the Tagalog one which was destroyed by fire on the first coming of the Spaniards. That
established in 1584 was in Lamayan, that is, Santa Ana now, and was transferred to the old
site in 1590. It continued to work until 1805. According to Gaspar San Agustin, the cannon
which the pre-Spanish Filipinos cast were "as great as those of Malaga," Spain's foundry.
The Filipino plant was burned with all that was in it save a dozen large cannons and some
smaller pieces which the Spanish invaders took back with them to Panay. The rest of their
artillery equipment had been thrown by the Manilans, then Moros, into the sea when they
recognized their defeat.

 Malate, better Maalat, was where the Tagalog aristocracy lived after they were dispossessed
by the Spaniards of their old homes in what is now the walled city of Manila. Among the
Malate residents were the families of Raja Matanda and Raja Soliman. The men had various
positions in Manila and some were employed in government work nearby. "They were very
courteous and well-mannered," says San Agustin. "The women were very expert in

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 lacemaking, so much so that they were not at all behind the women of Flanders."

 Morga's statement that there was not a province or town of the Filipinos that resisted
conversion or did not want it may have been true of the civilized natives. But the contrary
was the fact among the mountain tribes. We have the testimony of several Dominican and
Augustinian missionaries that it was impossible to go anywhere to make conversions
without other Filipinos along and a guard of soldiers. "Otherwise, says Gaspar de San
Agustin, there would have been no fruit of the Evangelic Doctrine gathered, for the infidels
wanted to kill the Friars who came to preach to them." An example of this method of
conversion given by the same writer was a trip to the mountains by two Friars who had a
numerous escort of Pampangans. The escort's leader was Don Agustin Sonson who had a
reputation for daring and carried fire and sword into the country, killing many, including
the chief, Kabadi.

 "The Spaniards, says Morga, were accustomed to hold as slaves such natives as they bought
and others that they took in the forays in the conquest or pacification of the islands."
Consequently, in this respect the "pacifiers" introduced no moral improvement. We even do
not know if in their wars the Filipinos used to make slaves of each other, though that would
not have been strange, for the chroniclers tell of captives returned to their own people. The
practice of the Southern pirates almost proves this, although in these piratical wars the
Spaniards were the first aggressors and gave them their character.

Source: Rizal's Life and Minor Writtings, pp 310-331, Austin Craig, 1929, Translations were made
by Mr. Chas. E. Derbyshire for the author.

(The Kahimyang Project. https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/966/dr-jose-rizals-annotations-

to-morgas-1609-philippine-history)

APPLICATION

I. Direction: Identify significant annotations of Dr. Jose P. Rizal on Antonio Morga’s

Historical Events in the Philippines and write your positive or negative comments on it.

Jose Rizal’s Annotations Personal Comments

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

II. Direction: Identify five critical issues cited by Antonio Morga and Rizal’s annotations on
these issues.

Antonio Morga’s Remarks Jose Rizal’s Annotations

1.
2.
3.

MODULE 7 | RIZAL’S ANNOTATIONS TO MORGA’S HISTORICAL EVENTS AND 17

SUCCESSOS DE LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS
4.
5.

MODULE SUMMARY

This module discussed the annotations of Dr. Jose P. Rizal on the historical accounts of
Antonio Morga on the Historical Events in the Philippines and Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. It shows
the differences in viewpoints of Rizal and Morga on various critical issues and concerns in Philippine
history. It further highlighted the value and role of history and culture in the development of society.

REFERENCES

Cruz, Geoffrey Rhoel C. and Ofalia Bernardino C.; A workbook for the Rizal Course, Anvil
Publishing’s, Mandaluyong City, 2015

Galicia, Solmerano & Palencia: The life and Works of Jose Rizal, Fastbooks, 2018

Jaime-Francisco, Virlyn: Jose P. Rizal A College Textbook on Jose Rizal’s Life and Writings, 2015

Maghayup, Gallardo, Ruiz, Babac., & Gallinero., The life and Works of Jose Rizal, Mutya Publishing
House, 2018

Purino, Anacoreta P.; Rizal the Greatest Filipino Hero, Rex book store, 2014

Quiboyen, FLoro. Rizal’s Legacy for the 21st Century. Progressive Education, Social
Entrepreneurship and Community Development in Dapitan Social Science Diliman. Dec
2011.

Zaide, Gregorio and Zaide, Sonia; Jose Rizal: Life, Works, and Writings of a Genius, Writer,
Scientist, and National Hero, All Nations Publishing’s, Quezon City, 1999

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