Readings in the
Philippine History
L E S S O N 3 : M A K I N G S E N S E O F T H E P A S T: H I S T O R I C A L
I N T E R P R E TAT I O N ( L E S S O N O V E R V I E W )
Objectives
1. Explain the problems in the historical
interpretation of particular Philippine historical
events.
2. Critique the interpretation of historical events
using primary sources.
3. Re-examine and assess the validity of
historical interpretation in light of newly
discovered evidence.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
This happens often in education
or propaganda settings, when a
historical event is reduced to its
basics to relay what happened in
the past quickly.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
This happens when there is
inadequate evidence to make
definitive assumptions about the
past, yet many still proceed with
historical interpretation.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
The appreciation that historical
interpretation should not be
treated as if written in stone, that
interpretations are subject to
changes as new information is
uncovered, new voices heard,
and new interpretations broached.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
This is a way of viewing and predisposition
to view historical events, personalities,
developments, cultures, and societies from
different perspectives through drawing on
procedures and processes which are
fundamental to history as a discipline.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
An open rebellion against the
proper authorities, especially by
soldiers and sailors against their
officers.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
A system of forced labor that
evolved from the encomienda
system.
Key Concepts
• Oversimplification
• Inadequacy
• Tentativeness
• Multiperspectivity
• Mutiny
• Polo y Servicios
• Insurrection
A violent uprising against an
authority or government.
Making Sense of the Past: Historical
Interpretation
Interpretation of History
Despite history’s definition of past
occurrences, reality is history is more of
a dialogue among historians.
A historian’s contribution is his/her
interpretation based not only on when,
where, or who but also about why and
how based on the evidence that has
been gathered and utilized.
Oversimplification
Factors
Affecting
Historical
Interpretation
Inadequate evidence
Tentativeness
Oversimplification
This occurs when an interpretation
does not offer enough detail to provide
a fuller picture of what happened in the
past, which could lead to an
incomplete and inaccurate version of
the historical account.
Inadequate evidence
When the historical interpretation is
based on inadequate evidence, there
is the perpetuated reading of the past
that may have been wrong in the first
place.
Tentativeness of History
Every new research uncovers new sources that could
be used as a basis for the rewriting of history and
evidence that challenges earlier accounts could be
discovered hundreds of years later.
One must remember that history requires following
and evaluating arguments and arriving at useful
conclusions that are complex, adequately sourced,
and tentative, if need be.
Sample Cases for Historical
Interpretation
Case Study 1: Where did the
first Catholic Mass take place
in the Philippines?
Butuan was believed to be the site of the
first Mass for three centuries, culminating
in the erection of a monument in 1872
near Agusan River, which commemorates
the expedition's arrival and celebration of
Mass on 8 April 1521.
Unfortunately, the Butuan claim has been
based on a rather elementary reading of
primary sources from the event.
Case Study 1: Where did the
first Catholic Mass take place
in the Philippines?
Toward the end of the nineteenth
century and the start of the
twentieth century, together with
the increasing scholarship on the
history of the Philippines, a more
nuanced reading of the available
evidence
Primary
Sources in the
identification
of the first
mass’
location
Francisco Albo’s log – Pilot of
Trinidad one of the 18 survivors
who returned onboard Victoria.
Antonio Pigafetta’s Primo
Viaggio Intorno Al Mondo (First
Voyage Around the World)
Albo’s Log - Summary
• In Albo’s account, the location of Mazava fits
that of the island of Umasawa, at the southern
tip of Leyte, 9 degrees 54 minutes north.
• Also, Albo does not mention the first Mass, but
only the planting of the cross upon a
mountaintop from which could be seen three
islands to the west and southwest, which also
fits the southern end of Limasawa. Albo and
Pigafetta's testimonies coincide and
corroborate each other.
Limasawa vs Butuan as
the site of the First Mass
Using the primary sources available,
Jesuit priest Miguel A. Bernad, in his
work Butuan or Limasawa: The Site of
the First Mass in the Philippines: A
Reexamination of Evidence (1981),
argued that in the Pigafetta account, a
crucial aspect of Butuan was not
mentioned – the river.
Butuan – A riverine
settlement
Butuan is a riverine settlement, situated
on the Agusan River. The beach of
Masao is in the delta of said river. It is a
curious omission in the account of the
river, which makes part of a distinct
characteristic of Butuan's geography
that seemed to be too important to be
missed.
Visit to Butuan
It must also be pointed out that later on, after
Magellan's death, the survivors of his
expedition went to Mindanao and seemingly
went to Butuan. In this instance, Pigafetta
vividly describes a trip up a river. But note
that this account already happened after
Magellan's death, and the Catholic Mass
should have occurred even before the Battle
of Mactan.
Multiperspectivity
Multiperspectivity is a way of looking at
historical events, personalities,
developments, cultures, and societies
from different perspectives.
This definition tells us that there are a
multitude of ways by which we can view
the world, and each could be equally valid
and partial as well.
Ways in which Historians Fail in their Inference,
Description, and Interpretation
1. Historians decide on what sources to use, what interpretation to make more
apparent, depending on what their agenda is.
2. Historians may misinterpret evidence, attending to those that suggest that a
particular event happened, and then ignoring the rest that goes against the
evidence.
3. Historians may omit significant facts about their subject, which makes the
interpretation unbalanced.
4. Historians may impose a specific ideology on their subject, which may not be
appropriate to the period the subject belonged.
5. Historians may also provide a single cause tor an event without considering other
possible causal explanations of said event.
The Cavite Mutiny
The year 1872 is a historic -year of two events: the
Cavite Mutiny and the martyrdom of the three
priests, Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto
Zamora, later on immortalized as GOMBURZA.
These events directly influenced the decisive
events of the Philippine Revolution toward the end
of the century. While the significance is
unquestioned, what made this year controversial is
the different sides to the story, a battle of
perspectives supported by primary sources.
Primary Sources for the Cavite Mutiny
1. The documentation of Spanish historian Jose Montero y Vidal
centered on how the event was an attempt to overthrow the Spanish
government in the Philippines. Although regarded as a historian, his
account of the mutiny was criticized as woefully biased and rabid for
a scholar.
2. Another account from the official report written by then GovernorGeneral Rafael Izquierdo implicated the native clergy, who were
active in the secularization movement. These two accounts
corroborated each other.
Tavera’s and Plauchut’s
Account of the Cavite Mutiny
Two other primary accounts exist
that counter the accounts of
Izquierdo and Montero. First, the
account if Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo
Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino scholar
and researcher, who wrote a Filipino
version of the bloody incident in
Cavite.
Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo
Pardo de Tavera’s Account
According to this account, the incident was
merely a mutiny by Filipino soldiers and laborers
of the Cavite arsenal. Soldiers and laborers of the
arsenal to the dissatisfaction arising from the
draconian policies Izquierdo, such as the
abolition of privileges and the prohibition of the
founding of the school of arts and trades for
Filipinos, which the general saw as a smoke
screen to creating a political club.
Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo
Pardo de Tavera’s Account
Tavera believed that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo
used the Cavite mutiny as a way to address other
issues by blowing out of proportion the isolated mutiny
attempt.
During this time, the Central Government of Madrid
was planning to deprive all the friars of all the powers of
intervention in matters of civil government and
direction and management of educational institutions.
The friars needed something to justify their continuing
dominance in the country, and the mutiny provided
such opportunity.
Edmund Plauchut’s Account
of the Cavite Mutiny
French writer complemented Tavera’s account in
his study where it is stated that the friars used the
incident as a part of a larger conspiracy to cement
their dominance, which started to show cracks
because of the discontent of the Filipinos. They
showcased the mutiny as part of a broader plot by
Filipinos to overthrow the Spanish government.
Unintentionally, and more so, prophetically, the
Cavite Mutiny of 1872 resulted in the martyrdom
of GOMBURZA and paved the way to the
revolution culminating in 1898.