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GEC-RIZAL: THE LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

LECTURE 10

The Annotation of Antonio Morga’s Sucesos de las Isla Filipinas

Title

Spanish
● Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de Morga. Obra publicada en Méjico
el anyo de 1609, nuevamente sacada a luz y anotada por José Rizal y precedida de un
prólogo del professor Fernando Blumentritt

English
● Events in the Philippine Island by Dr. Antonio de Morga. A work published in Mexico in
the year 1609, reprinted and annotated by Jose Rizal preceded by the introduction by
professor Ferdinand Blumentritt

Definition of Terms
Annotation
● A note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram

Sucesos
● events , happening, or occurrences
● The sucesos is the work of an honest observer, a versatile bureaucrat, who knew the
working of the administration from the inside.

Las Islas Filipinas

● Means “the Philippine island
● The Philippine was named in the honor of King Philip II in Spain

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 (18531913) 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 reestablished the audencia and took over the function of judge ("oidor").
When reassigned to Mexico, he published the Antonio de Morga (1559-1636): Author
book Sucesos de las islas Filipinas in 1609, considered of Sucesos de las islas Filipinas (1609),
considered one of the most significant works on the early nistory 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 colonialism in the Philippines written during that period, Morgan's
works are based on documentary research, the author’s keen observation and his personal
involvement and knowledge.
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 in 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,which he believed
misrepresenting the locals' cultural practices. For instance, Morga describes on page 248 the
culinary 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 the present
state of our native land. But the effect which my effort produced made me realize that before
attempting to unroll before your eyes the other pictures which were to follow, it was necessary
first to post you in 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 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 ('Annotations to Dri Antonio Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas" nd)

Some Important Annotations

Austin Craig (1872-1949), an early biographer of Rizal.
Title page of Rizal's translated into English some of the more important Annotations of Morga's
Rizal's annotations in the Sucesos. The following are some of Rizal’s annotations as translated by
Craig.

Antonio de Morga was not only the first to write but also the first to publish a Philippine
history. This statement has regard to the concise an 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, 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 Rom 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 Christian
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 island, they 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 the 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 others cannot be said to have been conquered.
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 an 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
possession of a province, that she pacified it. Perhaps to make peace" then meant the same as
"to stir up war." (This is a veiled allusion to the old Latin saying of Romans, often quoted by
Spaniard's that they make a desert. calling it making peace. - Austin Craig)
Megellan'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 afterwards 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 possession to the Indians of his encomienda. Vigan
was his encomienda and the Ilokanos there his heirs.
The expedition which followed the Chinese corsair Li Mahong, 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 Aha, 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 this 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 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 of Bisayans.
The historian Argensola, in telling of four special galley for
Dasmariñas expedition, says that they were manned by an expedition, says that they were
named by an expedient which was generally considered rather harsh. It was ordered that there
be enough of the Indians who were slaves of the former Indian chiefs, or principals, to form
these crews, and the price, 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 at their own tables and gave them their own daughters in marriage.
Morga says that the 250 Chinese oarsmen who manned Governor Dasmarinas 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
Chinamento 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 as he passed on as if unconscious of
the bullets.

Argensola has preserved the name of the Fin 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 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 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 lesuit'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 Marianes islands by burning more than forty houses, many small crafts and seven people
because one of his ps 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 overlooked 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 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 islander?
The Japanese were not in error when they suspected the sp Portuguese religious
propaganda to have political motives back of the missionary activities. Witness the Moluccas
were 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
like 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 become also 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 expeditions, islands depopulated, their themselves the
death of industry, the demo Enormous indeed would the benefits which the archipelago have to
be in order to counterbalance so heavy a cost.
While Japan was preparing to invade the Philippines, these island 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
conquest.
In the alleged victory of Morga over the Dutch ships, the latter found upon the Five
Spaniards, who lost their lives in that combat, little silver boxes filled with prayers and
invocations to the saints. Here would seem to be 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 it's 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 il 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 Pampangan “armed after the way of their land, with bows and
arrows, short lances, shield, and broad and long daggers.” Some Spanish writers say that the
Japanese volunteers and the Filipinos showed themselves cruel in slaughtering the Chinese
refugees. This may very well have been so, considering the hatred and rancor then existing, but
those 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, Spaniara or Indian, went unscathed!"
The Cebuanos drew a pattern on the skin before starting to 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, no reason to
blush in comparing its womankind with the women of the most chaste nation in the world.
 Morga's remark that the Filipinos like fish better when it is commencing to 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 to or doesn't know what 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 likes
shark’s meat, cannot bear Roquefort cheese, and these examples might be indefinitely
extended.
The Filipinos favorite fish dish is the bagong 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 the history
of neighboring islands.
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 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 recognized their
defeat. 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 they were
dispossessed by the Spaniards of their old homes in what is now the walled city of Manila.
Among the Malate residents were the families of Raja Matanda and ia Soliman. The men had
various positions in Manila and some were employed
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 tes of several Dominican and Augustinian
missionaries that it was impossible to go anywhere to make conversations without other
Filipinos along and gun soldiers. Otherwise," says Gaspan de San Agustin, 'there would have
been no 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 numer 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 to 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."