Annotation of Antonio de Morga’s

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Learning Objectives

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

• Analyze Rizal’s ideas on how to rewrite Philippine history; and,

• Compare and contrast Rizal and Morga’s different views about
Filipinos and Philippine Culture

Activity

IRF Chart. Fill out the table from Initial Idea down to Refined Idea. Then,
once you are through, begin to draw an analysis of your final idea.

Initial Idea

What do you
think of Refined Idea
‘bagoong’?

Final Idea

Analysis

If you were to correct one false thing from your past, what would it be?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
 Abstraction

Jose Rizal learned about it either from his uncle or from his "best friend." Some
references state that Rizal as a child heard from his uncle, José Alberto, about this ancient
history of the Philippines written by a Spaniard named Antonio de Morga. Some other
sources claim that Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippine Islands)
was suggested by Austrian scholar Ferdinand Blumentritt (1853- 1913) for Rizal's
research on pre-Spanish Philippines.

Dr. Morga and his 'Sucesos'

Antonio de Morga (1559-1636) was a Spanish historian and lawyer and a notable
colonial official for 43 years in the Philippines, New Spain, and Peru. He stayed in the
Philippines, then a colony of Spain, from 1594 to 1604. As Deputy Governor in the
Philippines, he re-established the audencia and took over the function of judge ("oidor").

When reassigned to Mexico, he published the book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
in 1609, considered one of the most significant works on the early history of the Spanish
colonization of the Philippines. The history is said to cover the years from 1493 to 1603.
Discussions deal with the political, social, and economic phases of life of both the natives
and their colonizers. Morga's official position as a colonial officer allowed him access to
many government documents. Probably the best account of Spanish colonialism in the
Philippines written during that period, Morga's work is based on documentary research,
the author's keen observation, knowledge, involvement and his personal experiences.

The history was published in two volumes, both in 1609, by Casa de Geronymo
Balli, in Mexico City. The first English translation was published in 1868 in London. On
the dedication page, Morga writes: "…this small book… is a faithful narrative, devoid of
any artifice and ornament… regarding the discovery, conquest and conversion of the
Philippine Islands, together with the various events in which they have taken part…
specifically describing their original condition…”

Rizal's Annotation of the Book

Patriotic as he was, Jose Rizal had an ardent longing to know the true condition
of the Philippines when the Spanish conquerors came ashore to the islands. He had been
working on the sensible presupposition that the native populations in the archipelago
were economically self-sufficient and thriving and culturally lively and colorful. He did not
believe the colonizers' claim that they sociologically improved the islands; instead, Rizal
supposed that the Spanish colonization somewhat resulted the deterioration of the
Philippine's rich culture and tradition.

To back his theory up. Rizal had to look for a reliable account of the Philippines
before and at the onset of Spanish colonization. Hence, his friend Dr. Ferdinand
Blumentritt, a knowledgeable Filipinologist, recommended Dr. Antonio Morga's Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas. Even then, this history of the Philippines had the impression among
many scholars of having an honest description of the Philippine situation as regards the
era covered.

In 1888-1889, Rizal largely spent his many months of stay in London at the
British Museum researching from its Filipiniana Collection, looking for Morga's book, and
then copying and annotating this rare book available in the library. Having no high-tech
copying technology at that time, he had to painstakingly hand-copy the whole 351 pages
of Morga's work.

Leaving London for Paris in March 1889, Rizal frequented the Bibliotheque
Nationale to continue working on his annotation of the Sucesos. It was thus in Paris that
he finished and published his annotation of the Sucesos in 1890.

Rizal meticulously annotated every chapter of the Sucesos, commenting even on

Morga's typographical errors. He provided enlightenment on every statement that he
believed misrepresented the locals’ cultural practices. For instance, Morga describes on
page 248 the culinary traditions of the ancient Philippine natives by recording: "They
prefer to eat salt fish, which begin to decompose and smell. Rizal's annotative footnote
explains: “This is another preoccupation of the Spaniards who like any other nation in the
matter of food, loathe that to which they are not accustomed or is unknown to them…
The fish that Morga mentions does not taste better when it is beginning to rot; all on the
contrary it is bagoong, and all those who have eaten it and tasted it know that it is not
or ought not to be rotten."

The Preface

With "José Rizal, Europe. 1889” as a signature, Rizal had the following as his Preface
to his work (as translated in English):

To the Filipinos: In Noli Me Tangere ("The Social Cancer") I started to sketch state
of our native land. But the effect which my effort produced 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).

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 the present made me
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 may be, we can all
pass to the study of the future."

Some Important Annotations

Austin Craig (1872-1949), an early biographer of Rizal, translated into English

some of the more important of Rizal's annotations in the Sucesos. The following are some
of Rizal's annotations as translated by Craig.

Governor 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 in 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 one must infer
that he had seen the work in manuscript before leaving the Islands.

By the Christian religion, Dr. 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 were Negroes Moluccans, and even men from
the Philippines and the Marianas Islands!

These 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 Mohammedans, 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.

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 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 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 have been conquered.
fighting than Spaniards.

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."

Magellan's transferring from the service of his own king (i.e., the Portuguese) 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."

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 Cebuano 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 latakas and artillery of larger caliber, had its ramparts reinforced
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
possession of the city but withdrew to Cavite and afterward 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 until 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's Day for the repulse of the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong.

Though not mentioned by Morga, the Cebuanos 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 "entrust." 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 him they yielded to their enemies, making peace and friendship with the Spaniards. It
was him 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 Illokanos 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 Malacla, 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 early Spanish governors were held to account. Some
stayed in Manila as prisoners, one. Governor Corcuera passed 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 '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 freebooter Cavandish 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
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 earliest 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 counselor 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 Dasmariñas, 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 Dasmariñas 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 foundry workers 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 Dasmariñas' 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 Dasmariñas
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 principals, to form these crews, and the price, that which
had been customary in pre-Spanish times, was to be advanced by the ecomenderos who
later would be reimbursed from the royal treasury. In spite of this promised compensation,
the measures still seem 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 and gave them their own daughters in marriage.

Morga says that the 250 Chinese oarsmen who manned Governor Dasmariñas
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 them 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
Mohammedans 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 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 Buhayens were probably some that had belonged to
Figueroa's soldiers who had died in battle. Though the Philippines had latakas and other
artillery, muskets were unknown until 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 Marianas islands by burning more than forty houses, many
small crafts and seven people because one of his ships 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
converts. 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 also become 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!

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 expeditions, islands depopulated their inhabitants sold as slaves
by the Spaniards themselves the death of industry, the demoralization of the Filipinos,
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 is 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 Acuña'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. The peaceful country folk 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 its
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
cruelly in slaughtering the Chinese refugees. This may very well have set these 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 into 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 Samatra.
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 restring 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 barbarous tribes in Mindanao still have the same taste.

The "easy virtue of the native women that historians note is not solely 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 "Kalualhatiran."
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 the other. For the rest, today the Philippines has no reason to
blush in comparing its womankind with the women of the most chane nation in the world.

Morga's remark that the Filipinos like fish better when it is 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 too 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 beef steak a la Tartar, which to them is simply raw meat. The Chinamen,
who like shark meat, cannot bear Roquefort cheese, and these examples might be
indefinitely extended. The Filipino's favorite fish dish is the bagoong, 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 neighboring islands' history.

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 Augustin, 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 the Spaniards
dispossessed them 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 lace-making, 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 missionar tetenate was thepossible ge anywhere to make
conversions without other Filipinos along and a guard of soldiers. "Otherwise," says
Gaspan 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.

The Value of Rizal's Annotation

The value of Rizal's annotation of Sucesos is immense as through the work, he

provided especially the Filipino readers with rich annotative footnotes concerning
Philippine culture and society. coupled with complete scholarly referenced resources and
full citations. Most especially, through this work, Rizal had proved and showed that the
Philippines was an advanced civilization prior to the Spanish conquest.
 The significance of Rizal's noble purpose in working on Morga's book is
prophetically encapsulated in some of his statements in his Preface: "If the book (Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas) succeeds to awaken your consciousness of our past, already effaced
from your memory, and to rectify what has been falsified and slandered, then I have not
worked in vain, and with this as a basis, however small it may be, we shall be able to
study the future.”

Application

Construct a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting Rizal

and Morga’s views on Philippine culture.

References:
• De Viana, A., et al. (2018). Jose Rizal: Social Reformer and Patriot (A Study of his
Life and Times). Rex Book Store: Quezon City.
• Mañebog, J.D. (2018). Life and Works of Rizal: Biography, Writing, and Legacies
of our Bayani. Mutya Publishing House: Malabon City.
• Ocampo, A. (2022). Rizal Without the Overcoat. Anvil Publishing, Inc:
Mandaluyong City.
• Pangilinan, M. (2018). Life and Works of Dr Jose Rizal. Mindshapers Co., Inc:
Manila.
• Umali, V., et al. (2019). Jose Rizal: A Review on the Life and Works of the First
Filipino. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.: Mandaluyong City.
• Valdez, M.S. (2008). Dr Jose Rizal and the Writing of his Story. Rex Book Store:
Quezon City

Suggested Readings.
• De Morga, A. (2023). Events in the Philippine Islands. Annotated by Jose Rizal.
NHCP: Manila