Tiador, Rheyster Prince R.

1804340

Reading in Philippine History

1.Why is there a need for us to understand our country’s history ?

History is the past event in our country that we should all be ware of. The study
of history is important because it allows one to make more sense of the current world.
One can look at past economic and cultural trends and be able to offer reasonable
predictions of what will happen next in today's world. One can also understand why
some rules exist in the modern world. For example, one can understand the importance
of the social welfare programs if one looks at the Great Depression and New Deal. We
can also look back on the Civil Rights movement and see why our country put so much
effort into creating a system where everyone is equal before the law and has equal
access to public amenities. History also allows us to see how to gradually created the
Constitution after it had just fought a war against a central government that did not care
for colonial interests. Without a background in history, one does not appreciate why the
Constitution was revolutionary for its time. More broadly, history enables us to
understand different cultures.

One can study history because it allows one to exercise their critical thinking
skills. These critical thinking skills are important for all areas in life, academic and
otherwise. A study of history allows one to practice writing for different audiences.
History allow us to know people who did good things for our country, to know people
who sacrifiece their lives, to know people who fought wars and endless battle just so we
can be free, and to know people who fought using their minds. History is very broud, it
maybe bored some but the fact that knowing the good and bad things our country go
through might make our hearth big or huge for our country.

There’s a lot of hollidays in our country and if we just give time to know the
history behind it, we might appreciate our country more or appreciate the people
involved. We will be amazed in our country most of all to our herous, great soldiers,
good leaders and to our fellow filipino. As Rizal said “ Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa
pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa pinaroroonan.” So we shall always look
behind our past. Lessons are there, maybe there’s more answer today but if we look
deep deep down to history answers are there.
2. What benefits can a student derive from a study of our country’s
history ?

  History gives us the tools we need to be decent citizens.

Good citizens are always informed citizens, and no one can consider himself to
be an informed citizen without a working knowledge of history. This is the case whether
we’re talking about our role in our community or in regards to our nation on the whole.
History helps us become better voters and more effective members of any type of
society. It helps put us in a position to better inform others as well. It reminds us the
past and give us a chance not to reapeat the bad dids our country men had done.

 History makes us better decision makers.

“Those that do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Those words were first
spoken by George Santayana, and they are still very relevant today because of how
true they are. History gives us the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. It helps us
understand the many reasons why people may behave the way they do. As a result, it
helps us become more compassionate as people and more impartial as decision
makers. Our  judicial system is a perfect example of this concept at work.

 History helps us understand ourselves.

To understand who you are, you need to develop a sense of self. A large part of
that is learning where you fit into the story of your country or the global community in the
grand scheme of things. History tells you the story of how your nation, city, or
community came to be everything that it is. It tells you where your ancestors came from
and tells you who they were. Most importantly of all, it gives you the ability to spot (and
appreciate) the legacies you may have inherited from them.

 History helps us develop a new level of appreciation for just about

everything.
History is more than just the living record of nations, leaders, and wars. It’s also
the story of us. It’s packed with tales of how someone stood up for what they
believed in, or died for love, or worked hard to make their dreams come true. All of
those things are concepts we can relate enriching to know that so could the likes of
Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, or Martin Luther King. Plus, history is just
plain interesting. Everything you like about your favorite movies, television shows,
and fiction novels is yours to experience right here in reality when you study history.
  History helps us develop a better understanding of the world.
You can’t build a framework on which to base your life without understanding
how things work in the world. History paints us a detailed picture of how society,
technology, and government worked way back when so that we can better understand
how it works now. It also helps us determine how to approach the future, as it allows us
to learn from our past mistakes and triumphs as a society. History explains where things
start and it help us to know better. History thought us the names of the great people
who pursue great things for great future.

3. What are the factors that contributed to the growth of Filipino

nationalism in the 19th Century? How did it contribute to the
development of the Filipino sense of nationhood?
 Economy
The decline of Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco was caused by the arrival of
the ship Buen Consejo in 1765. The Buen Consejo took the shorter route via Cape of
Good Hope, a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast controlled by Portugal. The journey
through the Cape of Good Hope takes three months from Spain to the Philippines,
whereas the journey of the galleon trade takes five months. The event proved that
Portugal was already past its prime in controlling the route via the Cape of Good Hope,
which was already under Dutch control as early as 1652. Shorter journeys to and from
Spain brought faster trade and quicker spread of ideas from Europe. Also, the growing
sense of economic insecurity in the later years of the 18th century led the Creoles to turn
their attention to agricultural production. The Creoles gradually changed from a very
government-dependent class into capital-driven entrepreneurs. Their turning of attention
towards guilded soil caused the rise of the large private haciendas. Various government
and church positions were transferred to the roles of the Peninsulares who were
characterized mostly in the 19th century Philippine history as corrupt bureaucrats.

 Education
During the administration of Governor-General Jose Raon, a royal order from Spain,
which stated that every village or barrio must have a school and a teacher, was
implemented. The implementation of the order expanded the reach of basic education
during the Spanish era. Also, during the 18th century, modern agricultural tools made
many people leave farming for pursuing academic and intellectual courses. After the
arrival of Buen Consejo, the Philippines had more direct contact to Europe and the ideas
circulating. Thus, the Philippines was influenced by the principles during the Age of
Enlightenment and radical changes during the French Revolution.
  Agriculture
Resulted in the appearance of a new class. Alongside the landholdings of the church
and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility there arose haciendas of coffee, hemp,
and sugar, often the property of enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of the
families that gained prominence in the 19th century have continued to play an important
role in Philippine economics and politics.

 Secularization of Parishes
By royal decree on February 27, 1767, King Carlos III ordered the Jesuits to be expelled
from Spain, and from all her colonies. The decree reached the Philippines in early 1768,
wherein Governor-General Raon tried to do the Jesuits a favor by delaying the
implementation of the royal order in exchange of bribes. This gave the Jesuit priests to
hide all of their possessions and destroy documents that could be held against them,
which were supposed to be confiscated. The first batch of Jesuits, numbered 64, left
Manila only by May 17, 1768. This event caused Raon to face prosecution from the next
Governor-General, as ordered by the King of Spain. Raon died before the judgment for
him was laid.

 Revolutionary Movement
The goal is independence, though realized briefly, was frustrated by the American
decision to continue administering the islands. The goal of fundamental social
change, manifest in the nationalization of friar lands by the Malolos Republic, was
ultimately frustrated by the power and resilience of entrenched institutions. Share
tenants who had rallied to Aguinaldo’s cause, partly for economic reasons, merely
exchanged one landlord for another. In any case, the proclamation of a republic in 1898
had marked the Filipinos as the first Asian people to try to throw off European colonial
rule.

4. Describe the katipunan in terms of the following:

 Organizational structure
Though the organizational structure of the Katipunan was constantly in flux, it is generally
believed that they formed small branches, governed by the sangguniang balangay, and these
small branches would form larger provincial councils, governed by the sangguniang bayan. All
these would be overseen by the Supreme Council of the Katipunan (Kataastasang
Sanggunian), which was composed of a president (pangulo), secretary (kalihim), fiscal
(tagausig), treasurer (tagaingat yaman), and six councilors (kasanguni).

The legislative body of the Katipunan was known as the Katipunan Assembly, and it was
composed of the members of the Supreme Council, along with the presidents of the popular and
provincial councils. The organizational structure of the Katipunan entailed three ranks of
membership, with new members starting out as “katipon,” then moving up to “kawal” and
eventually to “bayani.” Members were to pay an entrance fee of one real fuerte, a unit of
currency equal to 1/8 of a silver real peso, as well as monthly dues and other fees paid
exclusively to the Benefit Fund and collected at every session or meeting.

 Recruitment and initiation rites

The Katipunan recruited members using the triangle system. The katipunero (revolutionary) in
the triangle took in two new members who did not know each other but both knew the
katipunero. By the end of the year, this method of recruitment was substituted by another
method which allowed the katipunero (revolutionaries) to recruit as many members as they
could manage. New members underwent initiation rites which required them to swear to the
secrets of the Katipunan and to defend the aims of the society and to sign the Katipunan
membership register with their own blood, which was an ancient ritual called blood
compact.New members were required to pay an entrance of one real fuerte or twenty-five
centavos. All members were required to give a monthly contribution of medio real or twelve
centavos.

 Grades of membership
There were three grades of membership within the katipunan (society): the first grade, the
second grade, and the third grade. A member of the first grade was called a "katipon"
("associate") and wore a black hood with a triangle of white ribbons during the meetings of the
society. The letters Z. Ll. B. were inscribed inside the white ribbons and they were the
Katipunan letter codes which stood for "anak ng bayan" ("sons of the people"), the password of
the katipon. A member of the second grade was called a "kawal" ("soldier") and wore a green
hood with a triangle of white lines during the meetings of the society. The password for a
"kawal" was Gom-Bur-Za, the first syllables of the names of three Filipino martyrs: Gomez,
Burgos and Zamora. A member of the third grade was called a "bayani" ("patriot") and wore a
red mask and sash with green borders. The password for a "bayani" was Rizal, who was the
most influential person of the "Propaganda Movement" during this period in Philippine history.
5. Describe the life in the early Filipino Settlement in terms of the
following:

 Early beliefs
There is only one predominantly Christian country in all of Asia. The Philippines is
approximately 85 percent Christian (mostly Roman Catholic), 10 percent Muslim, and 5
percent 'other' religions, including the Taoist-Buddhist religious beliefs of Chinese and
the 'indigenous' animistic beliefs of some peoples in upland areas that resisted 300
years of Spanish colonial rule. The purpose of this lecture is to explain how a small
number of Spaniards converted the bulk of the Philippine population to Christianity
between the mid-1500s and 1898--the end of Spanish rule. It also discusses some of the
variety of forms of Christianity practiced today in the Philippines.

 Use of metals
Although there is some evidence early Austronesian migrants having bronze or brass
tools, the earliest metal tools in the Philippines are generally said to have first been used
somewhere around 500 BC, and this new technology coincided with considerable
changes in the lifestyle of early Filipinos. The new tools brought about a more stable way
of life, and created more opportunities for communities to grow, both in terms of size and
cultural development.
Where communities once consisted of small bands of kinsmen living in campsites, larger
villages came about- usually based near water, which made traveling and trading easier.
The resulting ease of contact between communities meant that they began to share
similar cultural traits, something which had not previously been possible when the
communities consisted only of small kinship groups.
 Early arts and music

Filipino Music and Art, both from cultures that have immigrated to this country have been
affected. The first type of music that was developed in the Philippines, indigenous music
brought here by native tribes that migrated from Taiwan. There are three basic groups of
indigenous music styles: Southern styles, the styles of the North and other styles. The
southern style of music usually consists of five different instruments, including the
kulintang, the Agung and the gangdinagan dabakanbabedil. The styles of the northern
indigenous music reflecting Asian gong music. Their music usually offers the gong called
unbossed gangs. In addition to the tools of musical styles of the South and the North
uses the other instruments in the Philippines are using the log drums, flutes, stringed
instruments and bamboo Kudyapi.
 Writing

Baybayin or Alibata (known in Unicode as the Tagalog script) is a pre-Hispanic

Philippine writing system that originated from the Javanese script Old Kawi. The writing
system is a member of the Brahmic family (and an offshoot of the Vatteluttu alphabet)
and is believed to be in use as early as the 14th century. It continued to be in use during
the Spanish colonization of the Philippines up until the late 19th Century. The term
baybayin literally means spelling. Closely related scripts are Hanunoo, Buhid, and
Tagbanwa.

The writing system is an abugida system using consonant-vowel combinations. Each

character, written in its basic form, is a consonant ending with the vowel “A”. To produce
consonants ending with the other vowel sounds, a mark is placed either above the
consonant (to produce an “E” or “I” sound) or below the consonant (to produce an “O” or
“U” sound). The mark is called a kudlit. The kudlit does not apply to stand-alone vowels.
Vowels themselves have their own glyphs. There is only one symbol for D or R as they
were allophones in most languages of the Philippines, wherein D fell in initial, final, pre-
consonantal or post-consonatal positions and R in intervocalic positions.

 Literature
Philippine literature is the literature associated with the Philippines and includes the
legends of prehistory, and the colonial legacy of the Philippines. Pre-Hispanic Philippine
literature were actually epics passed on from generation to generation originally through
oral tradition. However, wealthy families, especially in Mindanao were able to keep
transcribed copies of these epics as family heirloom. One such epic was the Darangen,
epic of the Maranaos of Lake Lanao. Most of the epics were known during the Spanish
era.