Social, Political, Economic and Cultural Issues

Chapter 4 in Philippine History

Intended Learning Outcomes:At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Analyze social, political, economic, or cultural issues in the Philippines using the lens
of history;
2. Recognize that the problem of today are consequences of decisions and events that
happened in the past;
3. Understand several enduring issues in Philippine Society through history; and
4. Propose recommendations or solutions to present day problems based on
understanding of root causes and anticipation of future scenarios.

4.1. Evolution of the Philippine Constitution

The constitution is defined as a set of fundamental principles or

established precedents according to which a state or other organization is
governed, thus, the word itself means to be a part of a whole, the coming together
of distinct entities into one group, with the same principles and ideals.

1897: Constitution of Biak-na-Bato

• The provisionary Constitution during the Philippine Revolution
• Promulgated by the Philippine Revolutionary Government on 1 November 1897
• Written by Isabelo Artacho and Felix Ferrer in Spanish, and later on, translated
into Tagalog

The organs of the government under the Constitution were:

1. The Supreme Council – which was vested with the power of the Republic, headed
by the President and four department secretaries: the interior, foreign affairs,
treasury, and war.
2. The Consejo Supremo de Gracia Y Justicia (Supreme Council of Grace and Justice
3. The Asemblea de Representantes (Assembly of Representatives)

• The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato was never fully implemented, since a truce, the
Pact of Biak-na-Bato, was signed between the Spanish and the Philippine
Revolutionary Army.
1899: Malolos Constitution
• After the declaration of Philippine Independence, the Malolos Congress was
elected – which selected a commission to draw up a draft constitution on 17
September 1898, which was composed of wealthy and educated men.
• The document they came up with, approved by the Congress on 29 November
1898, and promulgated by Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899, was titled “The Political
Constitution of 1899” and written in Spanish.
• The Constitution has 39 articles, divided into 14 titles, with eight articles of
transitory provisions, and a final article.

Preamble of the Political Constitution of 1899

We, the Representatives of the Filipino People, lawfully convened, in order to establish
justice, provide for common defense, promote the general welfare and insure the
benefits of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the
attainment of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following political
constitution.

• The 1899 Malolos Constitution was never enforced due to the ongoing war.
• The Philippines was effectively a territory of the US upon the signing of the Treaty
of Paris between Spain and the US, transferring sovereignty of the Philippines on
10 December 1898.

1935: The Commonwealth Constitution

• Two acts of the US Congress were passed that may be considered to have qualities
of constitutionality
• First was the Philippine Organic Act of 1902, the first organic law for the Philippine
Islands that provided for the creation of a popularly elected Philippine Assembly.
• The act specified legislative power would be vested in a bicameral legislature
(Philippine Commission as the upper house and the Philippine Assembly as the
lower house)
• The Second act that functioned as a constitution was the Philippine Autonomy
Act of 1916, commonly referred to as “Jones Law”, which modified the structure
of the Philippine government through the removal of the Philippine Commission,

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 replacing it with a Senate that served as the upper house and its members elected
by the Filipino voters, the first truly elected national legislature.
• In 1932, with the efforts of the Filipino independence commission led by Sergio
Osmena and Manuel Roxas, the US Congress passed the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act
with the promise of granting Filipinos’ independence.
• The bill was opposed by then Senate President Manuel L. Quezon and
consequently, rejected by the Philippine Senate.
• In 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, a.k.a the Philippine Independence Act, was
passed by the US Congress that provided authority and defined mechanisms for
the establishment of a formal constitution by a constitutional convention.
• The members of the convention were elected and held their first meeting on 30
July 1934, with Claro M. Recto unanimously elected as president.

Preamble of the 1935 Commonwealth

The Filipino People, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a
government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the
nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the
blessings of independence under a regime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain
and promulgate this constitution.

• The constitution created the Commonwealth of the Philippines, an administrative

body that governed the Philippines from 1935 to 1946.
• Originally provided for a unicameral National Assembly (with a Pres. And VP
elected to 6 year term without re-election)
• It was amended in 1940 to have a bicameral Congress composed of a Senate and
a House of Representatives
• The draft of the constitution was approved by the constitutional convention on 8
February 1935, and ratified by then US President Franklin B. Roosevelt on 25
March 1935.
• Elections were held in September 1935 and Manuel L. Quezon was elected
President of the Commonwealth.
• The Commonwealth was briefly interrupted by the events of the World War II,
with the Japanese occupying the Philippines. Afterward, upon liberation, the
Philippines was declared independent republic on 4 July 1946.

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1973: Constitutional Authoritarianism
• In 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos was elected president
• In 1967, Philippine Congress passed a resolution calling for a constitutional
convention to change the 1935 Constitution.
• Before the convention finished its work, Martial Law was declared.
• Marcos cited a growing communist insurgency as a reason for the Martial Law
• Marcos dictated some provisions of the constitution, manipulating the document
to be able to hold on to power as long as he could.
• On 29 November 1972, the convention approved its proposed constitution.
• Legislative power was vested in a unicameral National Assembly, with member
being elected to a six-year term
• The President would serve a six-year term and could be re-elected to an unlimited
number of terms.
• Executive power was relegated to the Prime Minister, who was also the head of
government and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
• The President, on 17 January 1973, issued a proclamation announcing that
proposed constitution had been ratified by an overwhelming vote of the member
of the highly irregular Citizen Assemblies.
• In 1976, Citizen Assemblies allow the continuation of Martial Law with the
following amendments:
- an Interim Batasang Pambansa to substitute for the Interim National Assembly
- The President become the Prime Minister and continue to exercise legislative
powers until Martial Law was lifted and authorized the President to legislate on his
own on an emergency basis

• In 1980, the retirement age of members of the judiciary was extended to 70 years
• In 1981, the parliamentary system was formally modified to a French-style, semi-
presidential system where executive power was restored to the president
• Executive Committee was to be created composed of the Prime Minister and 14
Cabinet member
• In 1984, the Executive Committee was abolished and the position of VP was
restored

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 • The situation in the 1980s had been very turbulent. Under pressure from the US,
who used to support Marcos and his Martial Law, the Marcos family fled into exile.
• His opponent in the snap election, Corazon Aquino, was installed as president on
25 February 1986.

1987: Constitution After Martial Law

• In March 1986, President Aquino proclaimed a transitional constitution, called the
Freedom Constitution, to last for a year while a Constitutional Commission drafted
a permanent constitution.
• The new constitution was officially adopted on 2 February 1987
• The Constitution begins with a preamble and eighteen articles.
• It established the Philippines as a “democratic republican State” where
“sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from
them.”
• It allocates governmental powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches of the government.
• The Executive branch is headed by the President and his cabinet, whom he
appoints. The President and the VP are elected serving a single six-year term.
• The Legislative power resides in Congress divided into two Houses: The Senate
and The House of Representatives
• The Judicial branch is vested in the Philippine Supreme Court
• The Constitution also established three independent Constitutional Commissions:
-Civil Service Commission (CSC) – a central agency in charge of government
personnel;
-Commission on Elections (COMELEC) – mandated to enforce and administer all
election laws and regulations;
-Commission on Audit (COA) – examines all funds, transactions, and property
accounts of the government and its agencies.

Attempts to Amend or Change the 1987 Constitution

• Three methods to change the Constitution:
- Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass)
- Constitutional Convention (Con-Con)
- People’s Initiative (PI)

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 • In 1995, Secretary of National Security Council Jose Almonte drafted a
constitution, but it was exposed to the media and it never prospered.
• In 1997, a group called PIRMA hoped to gather signatures from voters to change
the constitution through PI.
• Joseph Ejercito Estrada, formed a study commission to investigate the issues
surrounding charter-change focusing on the economic and judiciary provisions of
the Constitution.
• During the time of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, then House Speaker Jose de Venecia
endorsed constitutional change through a Constituent Assembly, which entails
two-thirds vote of the House to propose amendments or revision to the
Constitution.

Federalism
• Federalism in the Philippines was supported by President Duterte in the 2016
presidential elections, saying that it will evenly distribute wealth in the Philippines
instead of concentrating in Manila.
• A central governing authority and constituent political units constitutionally share
sovereignty.
• The country will be broken down into autonomous regions. Each regions will be
further divided into local government units.

Pros
- Each regions may custom fit solutions to problems brought about by their distinct
geographic, cultural, social, and economic contexts.
- Regions will have more power over their finances
- They can choose to directly fund their own development projects without asking
for the national government’s go signal
- Can also promote specialization

Cons
- A challenge to achieving unity in the country

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 - There might be regions which are not yet ready to govern themselves or have
lesser resources
- There could be issues regarding overlaps in jurisdiction.

PREAMBLE
- The term “preamble” is derived from the Latin word “preambulare” which
means, “to walk before”. It is the prologue of the Constitution and it introduces the main
subject.
- It confers no right nor imposes any obligation. It cannot be invoked as a source
of right. However, majority of the Constitution all over the world contains a preamble.

What are the Objectives and Importance of the Preamble?

1. It sets down origin and purposes.
a. It tells us who are the authors of the Constitution and for whom it has been
promulgated; and
b. It states the general purposes, which are intended to be achieved by the
Constitution, and the Government established under it, and certain basic principles
underlying the fundamental charter.
2. May serve as an aid in interpretation.

PREAMBLE OF THE 1899 MALOLOS CONSTITUTION

We, the Representatives of the Filipino People, lawfully convened, in order to establish
justice, provide for common defense, promote the general welfare and insure the
benefits of liberty, imploring the aid of the Sovereign Legislator of the Universe for the
attainment of these ends, have voted, decreed, and sanctioned the following political
constitution.

PREAMBLE OF THE 1935 COMMONWEALTH CONSTITUTION

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The Filipino people, imploring the aid of Divine Providence, in order to establish a
government that shall embody their ideals, conserve and develop the patrimony of the
nation, promote the general welfare, and secure to themselves and their posterity the
blessings of independence under a regime of justice, liberty, and democracy, do ordain
and promulgate this constitution.

PREAMBLE OF THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION

We, the sovereign Filipino people imploring the aid of almighty God, in order to build a
just and humane society and establish a Government that shall embody our ideals and
aspiration, promote the common good, conserve and develop our patrimony, and secure
to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy under the
rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace to ordain and
promulgate this Constitution.

4.2. Policies on Agrarian Reform

Agrarian Reform is centered on the relationship between production and the distribution
of land among farmers.
- It is also focused on the political and economic class character of the relations
of production and distribution in farming and related enterprises, and how
these connect to the wider class structure.

Landownership in the Philippines under Spain

• When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a system of
pueblo agriculture
• Families were not allowed to own their land – the King of Spain owned the land,
and Filipinos were assigned to these lands to cultivate them, and paid their
colonial tributes to the Spanish authorities in the form of agricultural products.
• Through the Law of Indies, the Spanish crown awarded tract of land to:
1. Religious orders;
2. Repartamientos for Spanish military as reward for their service

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 3. Spanish encomenderos, those mandated to manage the encomienda or the
lands given to them, where Filipinos worked and paid their tributes to the
encomendero.
• The encomienda system was an unfair and abusisve system as “compras y
vandalas” became the norm of the Filipino farmers working the land – they were
made to sell their products at a very low price or surrender their products to the
encomenderos, who resold this at a profit.
• Filipinos were also required to render services to their encomenderos that were
unrelated to farming.
• Hacienda system was implemented to fast track the entry of the colony into the
capitalist world.
• In 1860s, Spain enacted a law ordering landholders to register their landholdings
• Lands were claimed and registered in other people’s names, and many peasant
families who were ‘assigned’ to the land in the earlier days of colonization were
driven out or forced to come under the power of these people who claimed rights
to the land because they held a title.

Landownership in the Philippines under the Americans

• The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided regulations on the disposal of public lands
• A private individual may own 16 hectares (ha) of land while corporate
landholders may have 1,024 ha.
• Americans were also given rights to own agricultural lands in the country.
• In 1903, the homestead program was introduced, allowing a tenant to enter into
agricultural business by acquiring a farm of at least 16 ha.
• Landownership did not improve during the American period; in fact, it even
worsened, because there was no limit to the size of landholdings people could
possess and the accessibility of possession was limited to those who could afford
to buy, register, and acquire fixed property titles.
• President Quezon laid down a social justice program focused on the purchase of
haciendas, which were divided and sold to tenants.
• He also created the National Rice and Corn Administration (NARIC) to assign
public defenders to assist peasants in court battles for their rights to own a land.

Post-War Interventions Toward Agrarian Reform

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 • President Roxas passed the Republic Act No. 34 to establish 70-30 sharing
arrangement between tenant and landlord, respectively, which reduced the
interest of landowners’ loans to tenants at six percent or less.
• President Elpidio Quirino established the Land Settlement Development
Corporation (LASEDECO) to accelerate and expand the resettlement program for
peasants.
• LASEDECO became National Resettlement and Rehabilitation Administration
(NARRA) under President Ramon Magsaysay.
• NARRA accelerated the government’s resettlement program and distribution of
agricultural lands to landless tenants and farmers.
• It also aimed to convince members of the Huks, a movement of rebels in Central
Luzon, to resettle in areas where they could restart their lives as peaceful citizens
• President Diosdado Macapagal declared RA No. 3844 or Agricultural Land
Reform Code
• This Code abolished share tenancy in the Philippines and prescribed a program to
convert tenant-farmers to lessees and later on owner-cultivators.

Agrarian Reform Efforts under Marcos

• Presidential Decree No. 27 (October 21, 1972)
- This shall apply to tenant farmers of private agricultural lands under a system of
sharecrop or lease-tenancy;
- The tenant farmer shall be considered owner of a portion constituting a family-
sized farm of five ha if not irrigated and three ha if irrigated
- The landowner may retain an area of not more than seven ha if such landowner
is cultivating such area or will now cultivate it

Presidential Decree No. 27 (October 21, 1972)

- This shall apply to tenant farmers of private agricultural lands under a system of
sharecrop or lease-tenancy;
- The tenant farmer shall be considered owner of a portion constituting a family-
sized farm of five ha if not irrigated and three ha if irrigated
- The landowner may retain an area of not more than seven ha if such landowner
is cultivating such area or will now cultivate it

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 • Under the rice self-sufficiency program “Masagana ‘99”, farmers were able to
borrow from banks and purchase three-hectare plots of lands and agricultural
inputs.
• However, only restricted to rice lands, some landlords needed to change crops like
coconut and sugar, so the landed elite only had to evict their tenants and hired
workers instead.
• Landlessness increased, elites find their way to maintain their land which
worsened by the corruption of Marcos.

Post-1986 Agrarian Reform

• In 1988, the Congress passed RA No. 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Law, which introduced the program Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program or
CARP
- It enabled the redistribution of agricultural lands to tenant-farmers from
landowners, who were paid in exchange by the government through just compensation
and allowed them to retain not more than 5 ha.
• CARP was limited because it accomplished very little, only 22.5% of land
distribution in six years.
• Under President Ramos, CARP implementation was speeded in order to meet the
ten-year time frame. By 1996, DAR (Department of Agrarian Reform) distributed
58.25% of the total area target
• Ramos signed RA No. 8532 to amend CARL and extend the program to another ten
years.

*CARPER and the Future of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines

• In 2009, President Arroyo signed RA No. 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER), the amendatory law that
extended the deadline to five more years.
• Form 2009-2014, CARPER has distributed a total of 1 M ha of land to 900,000
farmer beneficiaries.
• The DAR and DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) are
mandated to fulfill CARP and CARPER
• Problems in implementation:
- The powerful landed elite

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 - The ineffectual bureaucracy of the Philippine gov’t
• Until these two challenges are surmounted, genuine agrarian reform remains but
a dream to Filipino farmers who have been fighting for their right to
landownership for centuries.

4.3. Evolution of the Philippine Taxation

Taxation in Spanish Philippines

• The Spaniards imposed the payment of tributos (tributes)
• The purpose is to generate resources to finance the maintenance of the islands,
such as salaries of government officials and expenses of clergy.
• Exempted from payment of tributos were the principals: alcades, gobernadores,
cabezas de barangay, soldiers, members of the civil guard, government
officials,and vagrants.
• In 1884, the payment of tribute was replaced by a certification of identification
called the cedula personal.
• This is required from every resident and must be carried while traveling.
• Unlike the tribute, the payment of cedulas is by person, not by family.
• Payment of cedula is progressive and according to income categories.
• The Chinese in the Philippines were also made to pay their discriminatory cedula
which was bigger than what the Filipinos paid.
• Two direct taxes were added in 1878:
- Urbana is a tax on the annual rental value of an urban real estate
- Industria is a tax on salaries, dividends, and profits
• The colonial government gained income from monopolies but the biggest
monopoly estate was tobacco.
• Forced labor was required from the Filipinos.
• The polo system, males Filipinos were obliged to serve. However, led to population
decrease in 17th century
• Males were required to provide labor for 40 days a year (reduced to 15 days per
year in 1884). They may be opt out by paying the fallas of three pesos per annum
• Taxation during the Spanish colonial period was characterized by the heavy
burden on the Filipinos, and the corruption of the principales.

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 • The principals who were given positions such as cabezas de barangay or alcaldes
were able to enrich themselves by pocketing tributos and/or fallas, while the
peasants were left to be abused.

Taxation under the Americans

• Urbana was replaced by tax on real estate, which became known as the land tax.
• The problem with land tax was that land tilting in the rural area was very disorderly
and tax evasion was prevalent, especially among the elites.
• The Internal Revenue Law of 1904 was passed as a reaction to the problems of
collecting land tax.
• It prescribed ten major sources of revenue:
1. licensed taxes on firms dealing in alcoholic beverages and tobacco,
2. excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products,
3. taxes on banks and bankers,
4. document stamp taxes,
5. the cedula,
6. taxes on insurance and insurance companies,
7. taxes on forest products,
8. mining concessions,
9. taxes on business and manufacturing, and
10. occupational licenses.

• 1914 – income tax was introduced

• 1919 – inheritance tax was created
• 1932 – national lottery was established to create more revenue for the
government

Taxation during the Commonwealth Period

• Income tax rates were increased in 1936, adding a surtax rate on individual net
incomes in excess of 10,000 pesos
• Cedula tax was abolished on 1937
• National International Revenue Code (1939)

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 • Residence tax was imposed on every citizen aged 18 years old and on every
corporation (1940)
• As world war II reached the Philippines, economic activity was put to a stop.
• The Japanese continued the system of tax collection introduced during the
commonwealth, but exempted the articles belonging to the Japanese armed
forces.

Fiscal Policy from 1946 to Present

• President Quirino – implementation of import and exchange controls
• Magsaysay, Garcia, and Macapagal – promised to study the tax structure and
policy of the country. However, Congress did not pass any tax legislation despite
important changes in the economy
– Collection of taxes remained poor; tax structure was still problematic, and
much of public funds were lost to corruption
• Under Marcos, the tax system remained regressive and unresponsive. Taxes grew
at an average annual rate of 15%and generated a low tax yield.
• Aquino introduced the value-added tax (VAT)
- VAT law was signed on 1986 and put to effect on 1988
- Restructuring of the Department of Finance and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR)
through Executive Order 127.
• Ramos introduced its own tax reform program in 1997 through the
Comprehensive Tax Reform Program
• Estrada’s term was too short to constitute any change
• Arroyo signed the Expanded Value-Added Tax or E-VAT (RA 9337) (energy
products such as coal and petroleum products and electricity generation)
• Benigno Aquino III introduced the Sin Tax Reform which adjusted the excise tax
on liquor and cigarettes
• President Duterte lowered the income tax rates. The present income tax is the
second highest in Southeast Asia. The tax reforms limit VAT exemptions and
increase excise taxes on petroleum products and automobiles.

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 Chapter 4 GE 2 Name: ____________________________________________
𝑐𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 Activity No. 4 Program/Year: ____________Date Submitted: ___________

I. Philippine Constitution

Direction: Read the following questions comprehensively. Give your answers based on
what is asked. Each question corresponds to 10 points.

Scoring rubric
*Content (Logical arrangement of ideas) – 5 pts
*Mechanics (Spelling, Grammar, Capitalization) – 5pts

1. Why must a government change from time to time?

2. Among all the constitutions existed, which constitution do you think is best? Explain
your answer.

3. If you will be the president of a country and will be given the chance to choose a specific
form of government, what is it and why?
II. Agrarian Reform

Direction: Read the following questions comprehensively. Give your answers based on
what is asked. Each question corresponds to 10 points.

Scoring Rubric
*Content (Logical arrangement of ideas) – 5 pts
*Mechanics (Spelling, Grammar, Capitalization) – 5pts

1. What is the purpose of Agrarian Reform in the Philippines?

2. What are the benefits of Agrarian Reform and who will benefit from these?

3. What do you think are the problems of Agrarian (land) in the Philippines? Why is
reform needed? Support your answer.

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III. Taxation

Direction: Read the following questions comprehensively. Give your answers based on
what is asked. Each question corresponds to 10 points.

Scoring Rubric
*Content (Logical arrangement of ideas) – 5 pts
*Mechanics (Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation and Capitalization) – 5pts

1. What do you think about the Taxation System in the Philippines, is it fair or not?
Support your answer.

2. Can we consider taxation essential? Why or why not?

3. Do you think that there is a need for a Tax Reform in the Philippines? Why or why
not?

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pw
Chapter 5 Doing History: A Guide for Students

Intended Learning Outcomes:At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Manifest interest in local history and cultural heritages;

2. Apply historiographical methods in writing of the history of one’s locality; and
3. Appreciate the value of studying history to the present days.

5.1 Doing Historical Research Online

- The first tool that any student nowadays would use to research--- the Internet.
- It has increasingly become the primary means by which anyone would find any
information that they need. With a single click, students are able to access tons and
tons of available information.
CYBERSPACE- is a great resource for research if you know how to use it properly.
Remember that just because information is available does not mean you just get
it and use it right away—appropriating something, such as an idea, as yours is
considered PLAGIARISM, which is one of the worst crimes in the academe.
- A simple skill that will get you far in doing historical research online is knowing
WHERE TO LOOK and HOW TO LOOK.
- Search engine websites such as Yahoo! (www. yahoo.com) or Google (www.
google.com) could lead you to a lot of sources with the right search strings.
Search string- it is a combination of words that you use to come up with the
relevant results and lead you to what you are looking for. The more refined your
research string is, the more definite and refined the results will be.
- Google also provides its own customized platform for scholarly research, called
Google Scholar (www. scholar.google.com). You may use it to find electronic
journal articles, materials from institutional repositories, and book chapters from
many different sources.
 - Google Books (www. books. Google.com) also provides sources for scanned
books, where you may be able to read some chapters for free.

Wikipedia is the biggest open source encyclopedia in the whole of cyberspace.

o In 2017, it has 40 million articles in 293 languages.
o Being an open source encyclopedia, anyone could contribute or edit articles
in the site, which makes some of the information in the site unreliable.
- There are websites that you may use to legally download scanned copies of books
and other materials for free, especially those books with expired copyrights and
are in public domain. These are the following:

1. Project Gutenberg (www. Gutenberg.org)- it is the oldest digital library in the

world, founded in 1971.
- it has more than 50,000 items in its collection, which include many works
concerning the Philippines, such as:
a. the Doctrina Cristiana (the first published book in the Philippines).
b. the publishes travelogues of foreigners who visited the Philippines such as
Jagor, de Comyn, Virchow, Foreman, and Worcester

2. Internet Archive (www. archive.org)- it is an online library that originally

sought to archive web history, but grew later on to provide digital versions of
other works. The archive contains 279 billion web pages, 11 million books and
texts, 4 million audio recordings, 3 million videos, 1 million images and
100,000 software programs.

3. Philippine Government websites (www. gov.ph)

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5.2 DOING HISTORICAL RESEARCH IN LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

- Research in libraries and archives is necessary in the study of history as these are
repositories of primary and secondary sources that allow us to create narratives of the past
through accepted methods of historical scholarship.
- It is imperative upon students to be able to develop an aptitude toward doing research in
these venues so as to further develop their skills in historical research.
- Libraries and archives still provide more variety of sources in different formats such as
books, journal articles, newspapers, magazines, photographs, and even audio and video
recordings. But shifting through all the materials available might prove to be a daunting
task for the unacquainted.
Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)- an antiquated card cataloging system, using digital
version to catalog their holdings.
o In this system, instead of going through each entry on physical index cards, a simple
search will yield the holdings of the library related to what you are searching for.
o Searching by subject will give you a list of sources, primary and secondary, to aid
you in creating preliminary biography that you may later on access physically in the
holdings of the library.
- The National Library of the Philippines in Ermita, Manila provides a rich treasure trove of
materials for the student-researcher interested in Philippine history, especially in their
Filipiniana section.
- The National Archives of the Philippines, also in Manila, is an agency of the government
mandated to collect, store, preserve, and make available records of the government and
other primary sources pertaining to the history and development of the Philippines.
- The libraries in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City have holdings
that could also be useful in research. Such as, the Filipiniana Section, serials, theses, and
dissertations.

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 - The Atene de Manila University in Quezon City holds the American Historical Collection,
a rich source for the American period in the Philippines.
- The University of Santo Tomas in Espana, Manila also has collections from the 16th
century, owing to the fact that it is the oldest Catholic university in the country and is a
historic site itself.

5.3 DOING LIFE HISTORIES AND BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

- Studying history is always focused on history of nations and different collectives.

- Studying the life of an individual is often incidental to a greater event that has been
significant to the life of a larger unit that he or she happened to contribute to.
- Life-history is an oft-neglected sub discipline of history because it is seen as trivial to larger
narratives of nations, societies, and civilizations.
- However, students of history should realize that the individual is a significant contributor
to various historical breakthroughs across periods of time. Individuals make up societies
and individual actions can cause large-scale social change.
- Individuals’ influence can span centuries and generations.
- Individuals can also influence large spaces and many places.
- For example, Jesus Christ as an individual, influenced the whole world. The faith and
religion that He started also launched wars, created civilizations, lasted for many centuries,
and persist up to the present.
- Jose Rizal, on the other hand, influenced many generations of Filipinos. His novels inspired
radical Filipinos to fight the colonizers, and his death was seen as the tipping point of the
revolution.
(See book, for more detailed example of the Life history of Rizal)

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5.4 DOING LOCAL AND ORAL HISTORY

- Local History is the study of the history of a particular community or smaller unit of
geography.
- Local historians study the history of local institutions like churches. They also study the
local economies, local heroes, and local events.
- Thus, it is also a broad and dynamic field of inquiry that aims to have an in-depth
understanding of a certain locale.
- Local history can serve as a balancer by showing the peculiarities in certain locales in a
particular nation, region, or continent.
- Studying local history can provide new and alternative interpretations on the different
aspects of a nation’s history.
- Local history also facilitates a historical narrative emanating from the people called-
History from below.
- One important historical methodology to local history is oral history.
- Oral History is important in the midst of scarcity in written sources, historical documents,
and other material evidences. This method used oral accounts of historical subjects,
witnesses, members of the communities, and the like.
- Oral History primarily relies on memory.
o The subject or the informant will recount his experiences to the researcher as he
remembers it.
o In other instances, the informant will relay what he learned from his ancestors or
older members in the community to the historian.

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5.5 INTERACTING WITH HISTORY THROUGH HISTORICAL SHRINES AND MUSEUMS

- While research is a valuable tool to learn more about the experiences of the nation and
our history, there exists venues where we can experience history, and these are through
historical shrines and museums.
- These venues for living history provide us a certain level of authority and trustworthiness
that could impact the way we view the past.
- Through interacting with artifacts such as World War II rifle or the clothes of a Filipino hero,
we can better imagine the past beyond the mere letter and words we read and
painstakingly memorize.
- These tangible objects are reconstructions of the past; experiencing these artifacts directly
is the next best thing to actually being there when a particular event happened or when a
historical personality lived. These firsthand experiences make historical events more real
for us; and research shows that learning by experiencing aids with retention of the
learning later in life.
- Historical Shrines and museums serve as portals to the past.

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 Chapter 5 GE 2 Name: ____________________________________________
Activity No. 5 Program/Year: ____________Date Submitted: ___________

𝑐𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒
I. MY LIFE HISTORY. Write your autobiography using only primary sources.
Below, is the scoring rubric to be used in rating your Autobiography output.

10 5 3 1

All supportive Almost all Most No facts are

facts are supportive supportive reported or
accurately facts are facts are most are
reported. accurately accurately inaccurately
reported. reported. reported.

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