THE FIRST MASS 1521

Happened on March 31, 1521 at an island called Mazaua

Was officiated by Fray Pedro de Valderrama through the orders of Magellan
There are two conflicting claims as to the identity of the site: (1) Limasawa in Southern
Leyte and (2) Butuan in Northen Mindanao
Another controversy: (1) Brgy. Magallanes and (2) Brgy. Triana
The controversy was solved when the National Historical Commission of the Philippines
signed Resolution No. 2 on July 15, 2020
Resolution No. 2 adopted the report submitted by the Mojares panel that the 1521 Easter
Sunday Mass in the Philippines happened in Limasawa, Southern Leyte

CRY OF PUGAD LAWIN 1896

In Pio Valenzuela’s first version, he told that the Cry was in Balintawak on Wednesday of
August 26, 1896. But later in his life, he wrote his Memoirs of Revolution and claimed that
the Cry took place at Pugad Lawin on August 23, 1986.
Santiago Alvarez was not an eyewitness of the event. His account presents a narration of the
events happened in Bahay Toro on August 24, 1986.
In Gregoria de Jesus’ account, the first Cry happened near Caloocan on August 25, 1986.
According to the version of Gen. Guillermo Masangkay, the first rally of the Philippine
Revolution happened on August 26, 1896 at Balintawak.
Meeting places of the Katipuneros: Apolonio Samson’s house and Melchora Aquino’s Bahay
Toro
The cedulas during the Spanish colonial period was an identification card and residence tax
certificate that had to be carried at all times. A person who could not present his or her
cedula could be arrested and imprisoned by the Guardia Civil.
The tearing of the cedulas signifies the Katipuneros protest against the Spanish colonial rule.
It signaled the Philippine revolution against Spain. It was followed by a series of fights
between Filipino bolos and Spanish weapons.

CAVITE MUTINY 1872

The Filipino version of the Cavite Mutiny was written by Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera.
According to him, the incident was merely a mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and
laborers of the Cavite arsenal against the harsh policy of Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo, which
abolished their privileges of exemption from paying the annual tribute and from rendering
the polo (forced labor).
Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo reported to the Spanish Minister of War on January 23, 1972
blaming the Cavite Mutiny to the native clergy, local residents and even El Eco Filipino, a
Madrid-based reformist newspaper. He called the mutiny an insurrection, uprising and a
revolution for the desire of the Filipinos to be freed from the Spanish colonial rule. He stated
that the mutiny was about to happened on 1862 but was cancelled because of the earthquake
on 1862.
The Spanish version of the Cavite Mutiny was written by Jose Montero y Vidal. The
historian’s account was woefully biased because he doesn’t spoke as a historian but a
Spanish bent on perverting the facts. He exaggerated the mutiny as into a revolt to overthrow
the Spanish rule.
 GomBurZa – the three martyr priest that were sentenced to death by strangulation on
February 15th (Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos & Jacinto Zamora)

PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
Constitution – a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which
a state or other organization is governed. A codified list of provisions that identifies the
limitations of the power of the government and enumerates its responsibilities to the people.
It is the highest law of the land.
1897 Biak-na-Bato Constitution
the first republic ever declared in the Philippines by Emilio Aguinaldo
1899 Malolos Constitution
convened on September 15, 1898 at the Barasoain Church in Malolos Bulacan
the separation of Church and State
promulgated on January 21, 1898 after it was formally adopted by Congress
Philippine Organic Act of 1902
the first organic law enacted by the US congress for the Philippines
provided for the creation of the Philippine Assembly, and a bicameral legislature
composed of a Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly
enumerated the bill of rights for the Filipinos
Philippine Autonomy Act of 1916 (Jones Law)
amended the structure of the Philippine government that was provided for the
Philippine Bill of 1902
removed the Philippine Commission and replaced it with the Senate
the United States will grant the Philippines its independence as soon as a stable
Philippine government would be established
Tydings-McDuffie Act of 1934
an act to provide for the complete independence of the Philippines after a ten-year
transition period
1935 Constitution
written in 1934 with the goal of meeting the US expectation of political maturity
among Philippine leaders
promulgated by the 1934 Constitutional Convention and was in operation during the
Commonwealth era until the Third Republic
during the Commonwealth period, the form of government was Presidential system,
with the president serving a 6 years term without reelection and a unicameral
National Assembly
in 1940 president’s term was changed from 6 years without reelection to a four-year
term with a maximum of two consecutive terms in office, and creation of Bicameral
congress composed of a Senate and House of Representatives, independent electoral
commission
in the third Republic, the form of government was Unitary Presidential
Constitutional Republic
an amendment was made in 1947, which provided for the provision of the Parity
Rights (equal rights over the Philippine natural resources) between the American and
the Filipino citizens
 1943 Constitution
the Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence (PCPI) promulgated the 1943
Philippine Constitution during the Japanese occupation
a single-party authoritarian republic with Jose P Laurel appointed as President by the
National Assembly and Benigno Simeon Aquino Sr. as speaker of the National
Assembly
1973 Constitution
promulgated after Marcos declared Martial Law
a unicameral legislature was established during this period, whose members were
elected for a six-year term of office
the President was elected from among the members of the national assembly for a
six-year term and eligible for reelections
the elected president will serve only as purely ceremonial head of state
executive power was exercised by the Prime Minister who was also elected from
amongst the members of the national assembly
the PM was the head of government and Commander -in-Chief of the Armed Forces
amended on four occasions: 1976 amendment, 1980 amendment, 1981 amendment
and 1984 amendment
1986 Freedom Constitution
serve as a provisional constitution
the proclamation contained some provision adopted from the 1973 constitution
Powers such as government reorganization, removal of officials, appointment of a
commission to draft a new and more formal Constitution, which upon ratification,
would supplant the Freedom Constitution
1987 Constitution
a democratic republican state
Executive (President and Vice-President, elected by the Filipino people with six-year
term)
Senator (elected by the Filipino people, with six-year term and eligible for reelection)
House of Representative (elected by district, 3 years term of office with two
reelection)

AGRARIAN REFORM
In 1902, the U.S. Congress enacted the Philippine Organic Act which provided for the
general laws to administer the affairs in the colony. It temporarily served as the constitution
of the United State colonial government in the islands. Parts of the provisions were the
classification of and the expropriation of land considered to be public
On November 6, 1902, the Second Philippine Commission enacted Act 496 which provided
for the adjudication and registration of titles to lands in the Philippine Islands. The law
specified the means of registering land under the Torrens title and organized the mechanism
of resolving land disputes through the Court of Land Registration
In 1933, the Philippine Legislature passed the Philippine Rice Share Tenancy Act
(Commonwealth Act 4054) which specified the relation of tenant-farmers and landowners.
The Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933 provided for a contract to govern the relationship
between the tenant-farmers and landowners and create a more secure tenure for the tenant-
farmer’s work. On the basis of harvest share, the law also provides a 50-50 division of
produce
In 1936, the Philippine Commonwealth passed Commonwealth Act 178 amending certain
provisions of the Rice Share Tenancy Act of 1933. Even with the amendment, President
Manuel L. Quezon had to do a balancing act among the restive tenant-farmers and the
landlord-politicians. The requirement for a petition of a majority of the municipal councilors
was stricken out of the final provision but the land covered only were rice lands and not those
lands devoted either to corn or to sugar which were owned by hacienderos
The Philippine Commonwealth in 1939 enacted Commonwealth Act 4054 that created the
National Land Settlement Administration (NLSA) which facilitated the homestead system
in Mindanao
President Manuel Roxas signed into law Republic Act 34 which amended the Rice Share
Tenancy Act of 1933 on September 30, 1946. Two important provisions of Republic Act 34
revolved around the compulsory implementation of the contract-governed relations between
tenant-farmers and landowners all over the country and the sharing of produce to be 75-25 in
favor of the tenant-farmers
During the term of President Elpidio Quirino, the management of agrarian relations was
delegated to the Land Settlement Development Corporation (LASEDECO) which was
created under Executive Order 355. The law which was signed by President Quirino on
October 23, 1950 abolished the NLSA and unified the functions of the Rice and Corn
Production Administration and the Machinery and Equipment division of the National
Development Company
LASEDECO was later on abolished in favor of the National Resettlement and
Rehabilitation Administration (NARRA) under President Ramon Magsaysay. Created
under Republic Act 1160 and signed on June 18, 1954, the new agency almost had the
function of its predecessor. While NARRA also facilitated the reclamation of public lands in
Mindanao under the homestead program, the vision of giving land to the landless was framed
within the scope of expropriating public lands. Here LASEDECO had the same function as
NARRA. But NARRA also introduced the purchase of already arable lands owned by private
individuals and facilitate their expropriation to tenant-farmers under Republic Act 1400
which created the Land Tenure Administration
In 1954, also under the presidency of Ramon Magsaysay, Republic Act 1199 known as the
Agricultural Tenancy Act was enacted that introduced the agricultural relations in the form
of share tenancy and leasehold. The share tenancy system would again take another turn by
the presidency of Diosdado Macapagal
In 1963 the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 3844 otherwise known as the
Agricultural Land Reform Code which abolished the share tenancy system recognized
under Republic Act 1199 and by operation of law, transformed all agricultural relations into
the leasehold system of tenant-landowner relations. The code also provided for the right of
pre-emption to the farmer turned agricultural lessee to have the first option to buy the land
should the landowner turned agricultural lessor decide to sell the farm. The farmer was also
given the right of redemption, giving the option for the agricultural lessee to redeem of buy
back the land should the landownerlessor had sold it to third persons. In order to implement
the code, the Land Authority was created
In 1971, the Philippine Congress amended Republic Act 3844 with Republic Act 6369
before the second term of President Ferdinand Marcos expired prior to his declaration of
martial law in 1972. Republic Act 6369 abolished the Land Authority and elevated the land
reform concerns into the Department of Agrarian Reform
President Corazon Aquino made Agrarian Reform the centerpiece of her administration. She
issued Presidential Proclamation131 and Executive Order 229 on July 22, 1987 providing
for all lands, including sugar land to be under the coverage of land reform
On June 10, 1988 the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 6657, known as the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of 1989 (CARP). President Aquino fell into
criticism when Hacienda Luisita with which her family was co-owner was not expropriated
to farmers. It was reduced into stock option, giving farm workers shares of stock rather than
title of ownership. CARP lasted for only 10 years from the date of its affectivity
In 2008, the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 9700 or the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) which extended the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law that expired in 2014