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Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas1234

Jose Rizal annotated Antonio de Morga's book "Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas" to provide a more accurate account of Philippine history before and during Spanish colonization. Rizal corrected inaccuracies in Morga's descriptions of things like weather, clothing, and cultural practices. He also cited historical and economic details omitted by Morga. Through his annotations, Rizal aimed to educate Filipinos about their history and culture and counter the negative views of Filipinos promoted by Spanish colonists. His analysis of Morga's book using historical facts helped disprove prejudices against Filipinos and assert a sense of Philippine national identity and pride.

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102 views3 pages

Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas1234

Jose Rizal annotated Antonio de Morga's book "Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas" to provide a more accurate account of Philippine history before and during Spanish colonization. Rizal corrected inaccuracies in Morga's descriptions of things like weather, clothing, and cultural practices. He also cited historical and economic details omitted by Morga. Through his annotations, Rizal aimed to educate Filipinos about their history and culture and counter the negative views of Filipinos promoted by Spanish colonists. His analysis of Morga's book using historical facts helped disprove prejudices against Filipinos and assert a sense of Philippine national identity and pride.

Uploaded by

Rich ann belle Auditor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas: Reconstructing History Through Words of Intellect

INTRODUCTION
Jose Rizal has a reputation for being an enthusiastic seeker of the truth, and it is this
trait that distinguished him as a great historian throughout history. He had a deep interest
in knowing the Philippines' real situation when the Spaniards arrived to colonize the islands.
Rizal's beliefs contradict the colonists' claim that they were fully accountable for the
improvement of the Philippine islands. To support this claim, Rizal went in search of a
credible account of the Philippines in the early periods and at the starting of Spanish
colonization (Tan, n.d.).
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, written by Antonio de Morga during their stay in the
Philippines, was the first recorded account of the History of the Philippines during the
Spanish voyage. Everything written was based on Morga's personal experiences and those
of another eyewitness during that period. This book discussed the events that occurred
during the Pre-colonial Period, included the community's system of government, how society
operates, the culture, and how they effectively claimed the territory as their own and
Christianize the Philippines throughout. In which young Rizal heard from his uncle Jose
Alberto, which piqued his attention when he discovered one of those remaining copies of it
in British Museum of London (Tan, n.d.).
In this essay, you will learn the value of evaluating other people’s personal studies
from the past to gain a better knowledge of our country, with the hope that you, as well, will
be able to express an accurate historical fact about our nation.

DISCUSSION
Antonio de Morga and his Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas
Antonio De Morga is living testimony of someone with limitless potential. In addition
to being well-known as a historian for his outstanding textbook, he is also a formidable kind
of soldier, judge, and lawyer. In particular, he became the colony's second-most important
official as Lieutenant to the Governor-General, serving Governor-General Luiz Perez
Dasmarinas, in conformity with Araneta (2021). Morga’s unmatched military excellence got
him sent to the most significant strongholds of the Spanish colonial dominion during his
most fruitful years. Not only is he a quintessential soldier, but he also happens to be the
alcalde of criminal cases in the Royal Audiencia of Mexico City (Rizal, 1962). He spent 43
years working in the Philippines as a distinguished colonial official and Spanish lawyer, 20
of which he ruled over the Audiencia.
After years of spending his existence underneath the Spanish regime, he published
Sucesos de las Islas. Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, or Events in the Philippine Isles in English,
was a historical document that detailed the events that took place in the Philippines from
1493 to 1603 while Spain has the colonial power. As the primary author, Dr. Antonio de
Morga solely based this history textbook on documented study, sharp observation, and
Morga's own engagement and understanding (Cummins, 1969). It has 8 chapters and is the
first laymanwritten history book of Spanish in the Philippines. It specifically covers the
political, social, and economic facets of a colonizer and colonized country. Additionally, it
discusses the activities that took place within and beyond the Philippines (Blair, et al, 1907)

Jose Rizal’s Annotations and Criticisms


Dr. Jose Rizal annotated Morga's book and published in January 1890. Rizal annotated
that the Island Tandaya is hard to determine as extensive or principal since the name can be
referring to the chief called Tandaya or the southeastern part of Samar named Ibabao or
Zibabao (Rizal, 1962:241). In the annotation of Rizal, he corrects Morga’s usage of winter
season instead of rainy season, Rizal added that in December, January to February the
temperature goes down compared to August to September (Rizal, 1962:242). Rizal also
corrected Morga in describing that the men and women are not using outer garment (Rizal,
1962:269). In contrast, prominent native people are very clean and neat, because they bathe
in streams and rivers while using the gogo as their shampoo (Rizal, 1962:246), Rizal quoted
that there are varieties of fruits and there are different species of animals (Rizal, 1962:252),
and variation of languages and dialects in the country. Moreover, he stated that the
horizontal direction of writing was adopted from the Spanish (Rizal, 1962:273). And he
supported the practices of the natives about the dowry and commented that these practices
can unite the parents and their children, and that it is a wise practice which is followed in
various parts of Europe, since there are cases of neglecting the parents once they have taken
the possession of patrimony, or vice versa (Rizal, 1962:282).

Significance to the Philippine’s History and its People


Jose Rizal’s purpose of writing the annotations is to express his own personal views
through a historiographical viewpoint however, it created a sense of national consciousness
as it urged Filipinos to grow their nationalism that forms the nation (Torres, 2019).
Furthermore, his annotations presented a gigantic context to fully understand the content of
his books El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere since it includes disputes between Filipinos
and the Spanish colonizers which is essential in understanding the culture and history of the
country that are crucial in growing national identity. Rizal wanted to awaken the
consciousness of our past which were falsified and slandered and to correct all
misconceptions about the country, its people, and its traditions (Clemente, 2011).
On the other hand, Rizal provided another primary source that is useful in
historiography to dig and analyze the history of the Philippines before and during the
Spanish regime. He included historical and political objectives, Asian perspective, cited
linguistic, economic, and cultural linkages which overthrew the negative perspective of
colonialists towards pre- Spanish Filipinos. Rizal challenged the Spanish era through history
by the accounts of Morga arguing about the existence of pre- Hispanic inhabitants in the
country, and their trade and industries. With all these, Rizal’s annotations provided a
baseline for historical research about the pre- Hispanic Philippines which are often less
examined, if not forgotten (Clemente, 2011).
CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
At the time of the Spanish contact, the Filipinos were known as Indios. As a result,
many Filipinos have been subjected to and condemned to death. This is also why Jose Rizal
tried to highlight the truth by jotting down the Book of Morga's, in which the critiques of the
Philippines and the Indios people are apparently stated. It also was advantageous to Rizal
because he wanted to preserve the image of Filipinos and re-present himself to his
countrymen. As per Rizal, nothing was changed in the original text except for those that
needed respelling or fixing proper grammar in contemporary Spanish Writing system. Also,
he would like to rectify the manuscript, but he really wanted to prove to Filipinos the value
of education by gaining knowledge and trying to correct the reality of things. Subsequently,
Jose Rizal's annotation of Morga's resurrected the passive natives to their privileges and the
genuine configurations in their homeland, which knocked mostly on natives' pride.
This study elaborates on the essence of analyzing history to support and fully
understand the present conditions of an entity. Historical analysis probes us to deepen our
knowledge about the truth, also providing as the ability to critically examine different
perspectives about the subject. It allows us to see a bigger picture, giving light to the origin
of the problem. Rizal used historical facts to explain and disprove the prejudice against
Filipinos with the help of Sucesos de Las Islas Filipinas. His analysis on the book were
concrete and credible as he stayed objective with his statements. He used the book as
evidence and was able to provide historical facts and not biased opinions for the sake of
defending his countrymen.

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