Written Report on History 5N

Rotten Beef and Stinking Fish: Rizal and Writing

of Philippines History
Abstract

The journey of Dr. Jose P. Rizal towards the freedom of the Philippine island from the
occupation of the Spaniards has been very difficult to him. In fact, he was killed because of
fighting the Spanish government through his writings. One of these writings was his annotation
to the Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas written by Antonio de Morga in 1609. In this
particular book, Morga was describing the pre-Hispanic status of the indios as primitive or
uncivilized which Dr. Rizal highly disagreed. According to him, Morgas aims was not to record
history as is, but to document the achievements of their religious orders and, more importantly, to
edify their readers. Thus, Dr. Rizal annotated it and considered to be the first writings of the
Philippine history from the viewpoint of a Filipino.
Because of this annotation and his other writings (Noli me Tangere, El Filibusterismo),
Rizal has been the very reason of the anger of the Spanish government especially the friars.
Hence, when Dr. Rizal went back to the Philippines and founded the La Liga Filipina, he has
been captured and sent to Dapitan on July 17, 1892. While in Dapitan, Dr. Rizal lived in an
exemplary life. He kept himself busy. He received patients who came to be cured of certain
health problems. He also established a school where he taught children in the field of
mathematics, writings, English, Spanish, geometry, sports and even exercises. And most of all, in
Dapitan Dr. Rizal meets the girl Josephine Bracken which he can share his life with after he loses

Leonor Rivera. However, Dr. Rizal left Josephine Bracken for a while because he was sent to
Spain on September 3, 1896 for being a medical officer in Cuba.

Who is Antonio de Morga?

Antonio de Morga was born in 1559 in Seville. He graduated from the University of
Salamanca in 1574 and in 1578 attained a doctorate in Canon Law. He taught briefly in Osuna,
later returning to Salamanca to read Civil Law. In 1580 he joined the government service, and
was appointed in 1593 to Manila as Lieutenant Governor, the second most powerful position in
the colony next only to the Governor General of the Philippines. He is the author of the book
annotated by Jose Rizal entitled Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas.
What is Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas?
Considered the most valuable text on Philippine history written by a Spaniard, Antonio de
Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events of the Philippine Islands) is lauded for its
truthful, straightforward, and fair account of the early colonial period from the perspective of a
Spanish colonist. Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is composed of eight chapters: the first is on
Magellans and Legazpis seminal expeditions, the second to seventh is a chronological report on
the government administration under several Governor-Generals, and the final eighth provides a
general account of the Philippines Islands, the natives there, their antiquity, customs, and
government, both in the time of their paganism and after their conquest by the Spaniards; and
other particulars. The book is based on Morgas personal experience and documentary research
in the many years that he lived in the Philippines.
What is de Morga's purpose for writing Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas?

Antonio de Morgas main purpose for writing the book is to commemorate the
achievements by his fellow Spaniards throughout the days of their discovery, conquest and
conversion of the Philippine Islands and the varied adventures they have had at the same time in
the great heathen kingdoms surrounding these islands.
What leads and encourage Jose Rizal to provide annotations to de Morgas book?
Rizal was an earnest seeker of truth and this marked him as a historian. He had a burning
desire to know exactly the conditions of the Philippines when the Spaniards came ashore to the
islands. His theory was that the country was economically self-sufficient and prosperous. He
believed the conquest of the Spaniards contributed in part to the decline of the Philippine's rich
tradition and culture. He then decided to undertake the annotation of Antonio de Morga's Sucesos
De Las Islas Filipinas. His personal friendship with Ferdinand Blumentritt provided the
inspiration for doing a new edition of Morga's Sucesos.
Rizal's annotation of Morga's Sucesos
Rizals annotations fall into two categories. First are the straightforward
historical annotations, where Rizal amplifies or corrects the original. Second
are the annotations which though historically based, reflect his strong anticlerical bias. The latter is something not to be expected in a scholarly work,
but these notes give Rizals edition its distinct flavor. Rizal branded religious
interpretations of events as "pious lies."
The importance of Rizals annotations to Morga was that he tried to use history and
historical revision not just to express his personal views on the historiography, but to create a

sense of national consciousness or identity. Historical revision is always met with varying
degrees of opposition, and Rizal's first attempt at writing Philippine history was no exception.

Who is Ferdinand Blumentritt?

Asked counsel of Rizal; Blumentritt told Rizal to write the history of the Philippines. He
wanted to know the beginning of the history of the Philippines and just like Rizal he also like to
show that there is civilization happen in the Philippines before the Spaniards arrived. The
warmth of the friendship between the middle aged German scholar and the young Rizal springs
forth from almost every letter in the correspondence between these two men, manifesting very
humanly the intimate brotherhood we both have and feel for each other.
Who is Isabelo de los Reyes?
Isabelo de los Reyes was born on July 7, 1864 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur to Elias de los Reyes
and Leona Florentino, a well-known poetess of the Philippines. As a boy, he studied at the Vigan
Seminary, where he began to hate the friars because of their maltreatment of the students that led
them to strike. He was a journalist, businessman, labor leader, politician and prominent member
of the schismatic Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine Independent Church) which
"canonized" Rizal. He was interested in aspects of Philippine history and culture, especially that
which concerned his home province Ilocos. His fieldwork and compilations of folklore, history
and customs have proven to be of great ethnographic value for present-day scholars.
Scholarship

Rizal shows a committed scholarship because he saw nothing wrong in driving data into a
particular framework, or giving a particular bias to push home a point. According to de los
Reyes, Rizal is blinded by his patriotism and forgets the true purpose of scholarship. Rizals
motive is to use his scholarship as a propaganda against the Spaniards. Rizal was not seeking to
be a scholar or historian however he was just using history as a weapon for the propaganda
movement.
La Solidaridad
While in Europe, Dr. Rizal was become an active member of an organization of overseas
Filipino students whose goals is to seek reforms in the Philippines whose particular demands
included the following: 1. the secularization of the parishes and the removal of the friars, 2.
representation of the Philippines in the Spanish Cortes, 3. filipino participation in the affairs of
the government, 4. equality before the law, 5. freedom if assembly, of the press and of speech, 6.
wider social and individual freedom, and 7. assimilation.
A newspaper La Solidaridad was published in order to carry out this movement.
However, while implanting this movement, Dr. Rizal heard news about the danger of his family
and other people in the Philippines for purchasing the Noli. Houses has been raided in the orders
of the new governor general Valeriano Weyler also known as the Butcher of Cuba. This
incident has been repeatedly done while Dr. Rizal was doing his second novel El Filibusterismo.
By the end of May 1891, Dr. Rizal had already completed the Fili in Brussels. This novel
was a word created by Blumentritt which meant rebel. It was dedicated to the memory of the
three martyred priests executed in 1872.
After the book came off the press, Dr. Rizal decided to go home. Hence, against his
familys wishes that to stay with them in Hong Kong due to the danger in the Philippines, Dr.

Rizal still went back to the Philippines. He arrived in Manila on June 26, 1892 and launched the
Liga Filipina on July 3, 1892 which goal is to unite the Filipinos to achieve redemption from
within after the Propaganda Movement in Europe failed. However, this it doesnt end the way
theyve planned it. Dr. Rizal was arrested due to the confiscation of a handbill against the friars.
The friars have ordered to kill Dr. Rizal but the Jesuits came and please the friars not to kill Dr.
Rizal but instead exile him to Dapitan ( the most Christian town in the Philippines) in order to
bring back the Christian obedience of Dr. Rizal when he was still in Ateneo resulting to a greater
triumph to the church. Thus, it was decided to exile Dr. Rizal to Dapitan.

Rizal in Dapitan
Dr. Rizal was arrived in Dapitan on the evening of July 17, 1892. He met a group of men
led by Captain Ricardo Carnicero, the politico-military governor of Dapitan and by Fr. Antonio
Obach, SJ, the towns parish priest. Both offer him a home where he can live but Dr. Rizal
choose to stay in the commandants house because the convent asked him to retract his errors
before he could be allowed to stay at his house.
A month later, one of Rizals favorite former teachers, Fr. Sanchez was sent to Dapitan in
order to convince Dr. Rizal to retract his views that were contrary to the church. However, the
Jesuit failed in his mission. Dr. Rizal lives an exemplary life while in Dapitan. He kept himself
busy. He received patients who came to be cured of certain health problems. He also established
a school where he taught children in the field of mathematics, writings, English, Spanish,
geometry, sports and even exercises. Furthermore, Rizals deportation to Dapitan was made
secret because his life was also in danger. In November 1893, a man appeared as a relative

named Pablo Mercado which later turns out to be Florencio Nanaman who was sent to Dapitan to
assassinate Dr. Rizal.
Because of his knowledge in treating patients, Dr. Rizal met Josephine Bracken who
accompanied a blind man name George Taufer. Since Dr. Rizal was broken-hearted at the death
of Leonor Rivera, Josephine became the one where Dr. Rizal shares his life with. However, Dr.
Rizals family didnt like her because they suspected her of being a spy of the friars. But, despite
of that Dr. Rizal still continue to love her and Josephine did her best to act as his wife even
though she didnt know Dr. Rizal and neither understood his political aspirations, much less his
writings.
Also, while in Dapitan Dr. Pio Valenzuela, a member of the Katipunan came to Dapitan.
He was sent as Bonifacios personal emissary to ask Dr. Rizals blessings for the revolution that
they wanted to stage. Dr. Rizal opposed it but later agreed and give advice that if they should
make Antonio Luna become the liaison officer and the educated rich so that they can supply
Bonifacio with money which they greatly need if they were to stage a revolution.
After Valenzuela left, Dr. Rizal received news that his permit to serve as a medical officer
in Cuba received the blessings from the Spanish government. Hence, Dr. Rizal left Josephine
Bracken and left on September 3, 1896 for Europe.