Readings in Philippine History - Chapter 4 - Lesson 1 : The Different Historical Controversies PDF

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Readings in the Philippine HistoryChapter 4The Different HistoricalControversiesChapter 4The Different Historical ControversiesIntroductionThis chapter discuss the different historical controversies that includes – The First Mass in the Philippines, the Cavite Mutiny and the Pugadlawin, Balintawak o...

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Readings in the Philippine History Chapter 4

The Different Historical Controversies

GEC2A – READINGS IN THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY with IPED | 70

Chapter 4

The Different Historical Controversies Introduction This chapter discuss the different historical controversies that includes – The First Mass in the Philippines, the Cavite Mutiny and the Pugadlawin, Balintawak or Bahay Toro. This chapter will help students learn about themes that are important to them, get a better grasp of complex challenges, and consider different points of view. Students will also get the opportunity to share their thoughts, listen closely to their peers, and practice being open to and respectful of others' points of view. Specific Objectives At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:  Demonstrate the ability to formulate arguments in favor or against a particular issue using the historical texts and sources.  Determine the contribution of historical texts and source to the Philippine History. Duration Chapter 4:

The First Mass in the Philippines The Cavite Mutiny Pugadlawin, Balintawak or Bahay Toro? Assessments

= 3 hours = 3 hours =3hours =3 hours

Lesson Proper CHAPTER 4 – THE DIFFERENT HISTORICAL CONTROVERSIES 4.1 THE FIRST MASS IN THE PHILIPPINES FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD BY ANTONIO PIGAFETTA By Anna Ettore - Translation by Silvia Accorrà (edited by Davide Spagnoli) Antonio Pigafetta was a key player of one of the most amazing world exploration trips. He was born in Vicenza in 1492, and he was an Italian seafarer and geographer. The relevance of his own venture, fundamentally lies in the fact that he took part to the first globe circumnavigation, between 1519 and 1522, and he was able to accomplish it after the murder of Ferdinand Magellan, leaving a detailed description of the journey in the Report of the first trip around the world, a lost manuscript that was rescued later, in 1797, and today is considered one of the most important documentary evidences relating the geographical discoveries of the Sixteenth Century. Antonio Pigafetta, fascinating and fleeing personality, for scholars he still represents a partial mystery. About him too little is known to define a satisfactory profile on the biographical side. Documents and the testimony of contemporaneous are scarce, and GEC2A – READINGS IN THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY with IPED | 71

his own character primarily appears from what he wrote in his own report. His own narration about the first world circumnavigation was one of the greatest achievements in the history of navy exploration and discovery. In this narration can be found descriptions of peoples, countries, goods and even the languages that were spoken, of which the seafarer was trying to assemble some brief glossaries Pigafetta tells how, being in Barcelona in 1519, he heard about Magellan’s expedition, and being wishful to learn about the world, he asked for and obtained the permission to join in the voyage. Magellan’s fleet weighed anchor from Seville on August 10th of the same year with five smaller vessels, heading towards Canary Islands and down along the African coast, and across the Equator. From there they sailed towards Brazil coast, where they stayed for some time, making supplies and weaving friendly contacts with the cannibalistic natives who dwelled there. Moving on, then they arrived in Patagonia, where they spent winter months in a desolate solitude. They met local people, who looked like giants in their eyes full of wonder, because of their robust body types. They survived the mutiny of one of the captains and some disgruntled sailors, and continued the exploration of the coast. One of the vessels was drowned, but the whole crew managed to be saved. They proceeded until the discovery of the strait, named after, Magellan himself, on October 21st 1520, and went through, although one of the ships deserted, sailing back to Spain. Finally, they arrived in the Philippines, where they became acquainted with the natives who proved hospitable and welcomed them as guests in the king’s palace. The indigenous people, affected by the celebration of Mass and the crucifix planted in the island, promised to convert to Christianity. Quickly they developed commerce and trade, and the king, the queen and other notables of Cebu were converted, until the entire population rapidly followed them in the new religion. Shortly after, happened the disastrous episode that changed the course of the expedition. Magellan took part in a conflict between some local tribes and was killed. The rest of the expedition managed to escape and retired, preparing to leave, but a trap set by Magellan’s interpreter and the king of Cebu, led to another massacre of the Europeans. The surviving ships continued toward Borneo and to the city of Brunei, where they managed to stock up, then from there, traveling southbound, they came to the Moluccas, 27 months after the departure from Spain, finding a warm welcome by an astrologer king who had predicted their arrival. But at this point, despite the perspective of good business and the rich exchanges that would lie ahead, their desire to return to Spain urged them and pushed them to a quick return. FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD by Antonio Pigafetta Translation by James Alexander Robertson (Blaire & Robertson, 1906) That land of Verzin is wealthier and larger than Spagnia, Fransa, and Italia, put together, and belongs to the king of Portugalo. The people of that land are not Christians, and have no manner of worship. They live according to the dictates of nature, and reach an age of one hundred and twenty-five and one hundred and forty years. They go naked, both men and women. GEC2A – READINGS IN THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY with IPED | 72

They live in certain long houses which they call boii and sleep in cotton hammocks called amache, which are fastened in those houses by each end to large beams. A fire is built on the ground under those hammocks. In each one of those boii, there are one hundred men with their wives and children, and they make a great racket. They have boats called canoes made of one single huge tree, hollowed out by the use of stone hatchets. Those people employ stones as we do iron, as they have no iron. Thirty or forty men occupy one of those boats. They paddle with blades like the shovels of a furnace, and thus, black, naked, and shaven, they resemble, when paddling, the inhabitants of the Stygian marsh. Men and women are as well-proportioned as we. They eat the human flesh of their enemies, not because it is good, but because it is a certain established custom. That custom, which is mutual, was begun by an old woman, who had but one son who was killed by his enemies. In return some days later, that old woman’s friends captured one of the companies who had killed her son, and brought him to the place of her abode. She seeing him, and remembering her son, ran upon him like an infuriated bitch, and bit him on one shoulder. Shortly afterward he escaped to his own people, whom he said that they had tried to eat him, showing them [in proof] the marks on his shoulder. Whomever the latter captured afterward at any time from the former they ate, and the former did the same to the latter, so that such a custom has sprung up in this way. They do not eat the bodies all at once, but every one cuts off a piece, and carries it to his house, where he smokes it. Then every week, he cuts off a small bit, which he eats thus smoked with his other food to remind him of his enemies. The above was told me by the pilot, Johane Carnagio, who came with us, and who had lived in that land for four years. Those people paint the whole body and the face in a wonderful manner with fire in various fashions, as do the women also. The men are [are: doublet in original manuscript] smooth shaven and have no beard, for they pull it out. They clothe themselves in a dress made of parrot feathers, with large round arrangements at their buttocks made from the largest feathers, and it is a ridiculous sight. Almost all the people, except the women and children, have three holes pierced in the lower lip, where they carry round stones, one finger or thereabouts in length and hanging down outside. Those people are not entirely black, but of a dark brown color. They keep the privies uncovered, and the body is without hair, while both men and women always go naked. Their king is called cacich [i.e., cacique]. They have an infinite number of parrots, and gave us 8 or 10 for one mirror: and little monkeys that look like lions, only [they are] yellow, and very beautiful. They make round white [loaves of] bread from the marrowy substance of trees, which is not very good, and is found between the wood and the bark and resembles buttermilk curds. They have swine which have their navels [lombelico] on their backs, and large birds with beaks like spoons and no tongues. The men gave us one or two of their young daughters as slaves for one hatchet or one large knife, but they would not give us their wives in exchange for anything at all. The women will not shame their husbands under any considerations whatever, and as was told us, refuse to consent to their husbands by day, but only by night.

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The women cultivate the fields, and carry all their food from the mountains in panniers or baskets on the head or fastened to the head. But they are always accompanied by their husbands, who are armed only with a bow of Brazil-wood or of black palm-wood, and a bundle of cane arrows, doing this because they are jealous [of their wives]. The women carry their children hanging in a cotton net from their necks. I omit other particulars, in order not to be tedious. Mass was said twice on shore, during which those people remained on their knees with so great contrition and with clasped hands raised aloft, that it was an exceeding great pleasure to behold them. They built us a house as they thought that we were going to stay with them for some time, and at our departure they cut a great quantity of Brazil-wood [verzin] to give us. It had been about two months since it had rained in that land, and when we reached that port, it happened to rain, whereupon they said that we came from the sky and that we had brought the rain with us. Those people could be converted easily to the faith of Jesus Christ. At first those people thought that the small boats were the children of the ships, and that the latter gave birth to them when they were lowered into the sea from the ships, and when they were lying so alongside the ships (as is the custom), they believed that the ships were nursing them. One day a beautiful young woman came to the flagship, where I was, for no other purpose than to seek what chance might offer. While there and waiting, she cast her eyes upon the master’s room, and saw a nail longer than one’s finger. Picking it up very delightedly and neatly, she thrust it through the lips of her vagina [natura], and bending down low immediately departed, the captain-general and I having seen that action. LIMASAWA OR BUTUAN? DEBATES CONTINUE ON WHERE FIRST MASS WAS HELD By: Rosalie Abatayo Fr. Marvin Mejia reads the historical account of the first baptism in the Philippines during a press conference for the activities for the quincentennial anniversary on the arrival of Christianity in the country this 2021. | Gerard Francisco CEBU CITY, Philippines —— With the quincentennial celebration approaching, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) hopes the debates on the true location of the first Mass will finally be resolved. Fr. Marvin Mejia, secretary-general of the CBCP, said the matter was still being looked into by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) and the Association of Church Historians in the Philippines. The first Mass and the first baptism are the two major historical ecclesiastical events that are given focus in the quincentennial celebrations sanctioned by the CBCP and the Archdiocese of Cebu. Cebu is identified as the site of the first baptism with Rajah Humabon, Queen Juana and hundreds of their community members being the first converts, according to the accounts of Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of the Magellan-Elcano expedition.

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The first baptism was on April 14, 1521.According to Pigafetta, the first Mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521, an Easter Sunday. Pigafetta referred to the venue as “Mazaua.” Some say that the venue is the island of Limasawa in Leyte. Others, however, claim that Pigafetta was referring to Masao the community at the mouth of Agusan River adjacent to what is now the city of Butuan. Nearing 500 years since the first Mass, debates continue whether it was held on Limasawa Island, in Agusan or somewhere else. “As far as our history books, the first Mass is in Limasawa. But there are other places that are claiming that the first Mass was held in their locality. The historical commission somehow opens the discussion among experts and historians,” Mejia said. Read more: Archdiocese of Cebu to highlight first baptism in 2021 quincentennial celebrations. Mejia attended the Archdiocese of Cebu’s press conference on Wednesday, November 13, which tackled about the plans of the Catholic church for the quincentennial celebration. They announced that to commemorate the first baptism, 500 children with special needs would be baptized in the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City on April 14, 2021. The first Mass, on the other hand, shall be celebrated across the country as it will be commemorated on the Easter of 2021 which falls on April 12. This way, Mejia said, the first Mass would be well celebrated and commemorated by all churches regardless of where the true site would be. “Even if the issue is not yet resolved, the celebration and the commemoration would still happen,” said Mejia. He said that it would be up to the dioceses who were claiming to be the site of the first Mass if they would hold a big event for the Easter Mass.

BUTUAN TO PURSUE CLAIM IT WAS SITE OF FIRST MASS IN 485 YEARS AGO By Ben Serrano (Philstar.com) BUTUAN CITY — The event that marked the birth of Christianity in the Philippines 485 years ago is still under dispute, with this city renewing its claim that the historic first Mass celebrated by Spanish colonizers was held here and not in Limasawa, Leyte. Local executives and Church officials as well as historians here said they have new scientific evidence to substantiate the re-filing of a petition before the National Historical Institute (NHI) asserting that Butuan City — particularly Mazaua Island, now Barangay Pinamangculan — was the official site of the first Mass on Easter Sunday in 1521. Among the pieces of evidence are 10 1,600-year-old Balanghai boats believed to have been used for trade and to transport people for worship services. "We waited for more scientific evidences to strongly substantiate the Mazaua claim until geomorphologists and archeologists came up with official reports that indeed Mazaua Island was the site of the first Mass," Fr. Joesilo Amalia, trustee of the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc. and curator of the Butuan Diocese Museum told The STAR yesterday. A law was passed by Congress on June 19, l960, or Republic Act No. 2733, declared the site of Magallanes on Limasawa Island as the national shrine to commemorate the first Mass ever held in the country that gave birth to Christianity in this now predominantly Catholic nation. GEC2A – READINGS IN THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY with IPED | 75

But the Butuan City Cultural and Historical Foundation Inc., (BCHFI) with the backing of the Butuan City government in the early 1980s up to the ’90s, contested the declaration. This prompted the government in 1994 to form the Gancayco Commission headed by then Supreme Court Associate Justice Emilio Gancayco. In 1996, the commission penned a resolution in favor of the Limasawa Island claim. However, the BCHFI said the NHI board failed to concur with the Gancayco findings. "This prompted BCHFI to continuously raise our protest," Amalia said. Two weeks ago, NHI chairman Ambeth Ocampo, who visited the Butuan City Regional Museum here, told BCHFI officials that the NHI is keen on resurrecting the Mazaua "First Mass" claim. BCHFI officials are set to meet today with local officials, historians and Church leaders at the Butuan City Regional Museum to discuss the contents of the BCHFI position paper to be submitted to NHI, Amalia said. According to BCHFI, it has gathered 28 new pieces of scientific evidence and comparisons between the two islands — Mazaua and Limasawa — to substantiate Butuan’s claim, including the recovery of 10 Balanghai boats which were accidentally dug up near Masao River in 1976. A shrine was built for the ancient boats which were used by natives in Butuan for sea travel even before the Spaniards came. The Philippine government has endorsed the Balanghai Shrine to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a "World Historical and Cultural Heritage Site" because of its contribution to ancient culture and history. According to Amalia, once UNESCO recognizes the Balanghai Shrine, it will put Butuan City on the world map as a "historical and cultural heritage site." Amalia said they are hoping the NHI will listen this time, pointing out that the claim for the site of the First Mass must be substantiated by scientific proof, not just by passing a law which, he insisted, had no scientific basis. Amalia officiated a Mass yesterday commemorating the 485th Anniversary of the First Mass at the site with local government officials headed by City Mayor Democrito Plaza, Church leaders and other officials. In his homily, Amalia urged Butuanons to unite in support of their claim, saying the distinction of having hosted the first Mass not only is a symbol of the beginning of Christianity in the Philippines, but also a symbol of its spiritual value to the people. 4.2 THE CAVITE MUTINY THE TWO FACES OF THE 1872 CAVITE MUTINY By Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay, 2012 The 12th of June of every year since 1898 is a very important event for all the Filipinos. In this particular day, the entire Filipino nation as well as Filipino communities all over the world gathers to celebrate the Philippines’ Independence Day. 1898 came to be a very significant year for all of us— it is as equally important as 1896—the year when the Philippine Revolution broke out owing to the Filipinos’ desire to be free from the abuses of the Spanish colonial regime. But we should be reminded that another year is as historic as the two—1872. Two major events happened in 1872, first was the 1872 Cavite Mutiny and the other was the martyrdom of the three martyr priests in the persons of Fathers Mariano Gomes, GEC2A – READINGS IN THE PHILIPPINE HISTORY with IPED | 76

Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA). However, not all of us knew that there were different accounts in reference to the said event.. All Filipinos must know the different sides of the story—since this event led to another tragic yet meaningful part of our history—the execution of GOMBURZA which in effect a major factor in the awakening of nationalism among the Filipinos. 1872 Cavite Mutiny: Spanish Perspective Jose Montero y Vidal, a prolific Spanish historian documented the event and highlighted it as an attempt of the Indios to overthrow the Spanish government in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo’s official report magnified the event and made use of it to implicate the native clergy, which was then active in the call for secularization. The two accounts complimented and corroborated with one other, only that the general’s report was more spiteful. Initially, both Montero and Izquierdo scored out that the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the workers of Cavite arsenal such as non-payment of tributes and exemption from force labor were the main reasons of the “revolution” as how they called it, however, other causes were enumerated by them including the Spanish Revolution which overthrew the secular throne,...