Annotation of Antonio Morga's

Sucesos Dela Islas Filipinas

Ignorance is servitude, because as a
man thinks, so he is; a man who does
not think for himself and allows himself
to be guided by the thought of another
is like the beast led by a halter

—Jose Rizal
Dr. Jose Rizal’s
Annotation of Antonio
Morga’s “Historical
Events of the
Philippines,” 1609
Dr. José Rizal, a renowned Rizal extensively studied
writer and national hero of Antonio Morga's "Historical
the Philippines, spent time Events of the Philippines,"
in London in 1889-1890 to annotating each chapter
conduct historical research with meticulous detail. His
on pre-colonial Philippines annotations provide
and improve his English. He valuable insights into the
lived in London with the societal and cultural
Beckett family and had a aspects of ancient
strong desire to understand Philippines. Unfortunately.
the conditions of the many students of Philippine
Philippines before the history are unaware of
Spanish arrival. Rizal's annotated work,
which is available in English
and offers a rich resource
for understanding the
Rizal’s Annotation
to Morga’s
“Sucesos De Las
Islas Filipinas,
1609”
Meaning
Of
Sucesos
De Las
Islas
Filipinas
● Las Islas Filipinas means “The
Philippine Island” in English and was
named in honor of King Philip II of Spain.

● Sucesos means the work of an honest

observer, a versatile bureaucrat, who
knew the workings of the administration
from the inside.
About the Sucesos De Las
Islas Filipinas
The book is based on
One of the
the experience and
important works of
observation of
the Philippines about
Antonio De Morga.
the colonization of
Spain, published by
Antonio De Morga in
Mexico 1609. Annotated by Jose
Rizal with a prologue
Explains the political, by Dr. Ferdinand
social and Blumentritt
economical aspects
of a colonizer and
the colonized
country.
The work consists of 8
chapters
1. Of the first discoveries of the Eastern
islands.
2. Of the government of Dr. Francisco de Sande.
3. Of the government of Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de
Peñalosa.
4. Of the government of Dr. Santiago de Vera.
5. Of the government of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas.
6. Of the government of Don Francisco Tello.
7. Of the government of Don Pedro Bravo de Acuña.
8. An account of the Philippine Islands.
ANTONIO de MORGA
● Spanish lawyer and a
government official during
the 17th Century.
● Historical Anthropologist.
● Author of Sucesos De Las
Islas Filipinas.
● Wrote the first lay formal
history of the Philippines
conquest by Spain.
● He is a doctorate in Canon
and Civil Law.
Purpose of
Sucesos De Las
Islas Filipinas
Morga (1609) wrote that the purpose for
writing Sucesos was so he could chronicle
"the deeds achieved by our Spaniards,
the discovery, conquest, and
conversion of the Filipinas Islands - as
well as various fortunes that they have
from time to time in the great
kingdoms and among the pagan
peoples surrounding the islands. "
What, Why and How…
 What lead Jose Rizal to
Morga’s Work?
● Rizal was an earnest seeker of truth and this marked him as historian

● He had a burning desire to know exactly the condition of the Philippines when
the Spaniards came ashore to the island.

● His theory was that the country was economically self-sufficient and
prosperous. Entertained the idea that it had a lively and vigorous community

● He believed the conquest of the Spaniards contributed in part to the

decline of the Philippine’s rich traditions and culture.
 What lead Jose Rizal to
Morga’s Work?
● 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.

● Devoting four months research and writing and almost a year to get
his manuscript published in Paris in January 1890.
 Why lead Jose Rizal to
Morga’s Work?
● Rizal felt Morga to be more "objective" than the religious writers whose
accounts included many miracle stories.

● Morga, compared to religious chroniclers, was more sympathetic to the

indios; and finally, Morga was not only an eyewitness but a major actor in
the events he narrates.

● Rizal's second consideration for the choice of Morga was that it was the only
civil, as opposed to religious or ecclesiastical, history of the Philippines
written during the colonial period.
 Why lead Jose Rizal to
Morga’s Work?
● The third consideration for the choice of Morga was Rizal’s opinion that this secular
account was more objective, more trustworthy, than those written by the religious
missionaries which were liberally sprinkled with tales of miracles and apparitions.

● The fourth consideration in Rizal's choice of the Morga was that it appeared more
sympathetic, at least in parts, to the indios, in contrast to the friar accounts, many of
which were biased or downright racist in tone and interpretation.

● The fifth and last consideration was that Morga was an eyewitness, and therefore a
primary source, on the Philippines and its people at the point of first contact with Spain.
 How lead Jose Rizal to
Morga’s Work?
● Rizal found the book while he was in London at the British Museum’s reading
room.

● He hand copied the whole 351 pages of the book.

● And annotated every chapter of it.

● It was the first historical work on the Philippines by a Filipino. It is the first
history written from the point of view of the colonized not the colonizer.
Rizal’s
Annotatio
n
José Rizal Annotation

First Second

Straightforward The annotations

historical which, though
annotations, historically
where Rizal based, reflect his
amplifies or strong
corrects the anticlerical bias.
 Rizal’s Purpose of annotating
Morga’s Work
● To awaken the consciousness of the Filipinos
regarding their glorious ways of the past

● To correct what has been distorted about the

Philippines due to Spanish Conquest

● To prove that the Filipinos are civilized/advanced

even before the coming of the Spaniards
 Rizal’s Annotation
● The people of the Philippines had a culture on their own,
before the coming of the Spaniards

● The people of the pre-Hispanic Philippines is advanced, has

high literacy rate, self sufficient and has smooth foreign
relations.

● Filipinos were decimated, demoralized, exploited and ruined

by the Spanish colonization.
 Rizal’s Annotation
● The present state of the Philippines was not necessarily
superior to its past.

● In his annotation, he included the colonial history of the

Philippines, being in prolonged periods of suffering that many
people have been subjected to.

● “The Philippines was depopulated, impoverished and retorted,

astounded by metaphor, with no confidence in their past, still
without faith in her present and without faltering hope in the
future”.
Ferdinand Blumentritt
Sucesos De Las Islas
Filipinas
● He wrote it in Spanish even though German is his
native language.
● Encouraged Rizal to write about the Philippines’ pre-
colonial History.
● He praised Rizal’s works as “Scholarly and well-
thought out”.
● Noted that the book is so rare that very few libraries
has it and guarded it like a treasure.
The “SUCESOS” as annotated by Rizal,
appeared for the first time in the Philippines
sixty eight years later when a publisher in
Manila, published the new work in 1958, to
contribute his bit to the national effort to honor
Rizal. The present work is the sixth volume of the
Series of Writings of Jose Rizal which the Jose
Rizal National Centennial Commission has no
published in commemoration of his birth.
Blumentritt criticized Rizal’s
explanation on two accounts

● He noticed that Rizal had committed the mistakes of

many modern historians who judged events in the past.

● He said that Rizal shouldn’t condemn Catholicism even

though they didn’t do any effort to suppress calls for
reform. He should just keep the critique about religious
orders in the Philippines.
“To foretell the destiny of
a nation, it is necessary to
open the books that tell of
her past.”
- Jose Rizal -
 The
ANAGRAM
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“Nasa kabataan
ang pag-asa ng
bayan”
- Dr. Jose Rizal -
 if tyrants
There
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“There are no
tyrants if there
are no slaves”
- Dr. Jose Rizal -
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“To foretell the destiny of
a nation, it is necessary to
open the books that tell of
her past.”
- Dr. Jose Rizal -
battles Silent of
are
own
one’s soul the

fought chambers
within The

Greatest
“The greatest battles
are fought within the
silent chambers of one's
own soul”
- Dr. Jose Rizal -
 came know does
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“He who does not know
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where he came from will
never get to his
destination”
- Dr. Jose Rizal -