Renato constantino a past revisited pdf

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Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Jhan Carlo Vasquez. A short summary of this paper. This chapter book written by Renato Constantino elaborates the happenings during the Spanish colonization era in the Philippines. Upon reading some of its chapters, my knowledge increased about the other things that Spaniards made our ancestor to experience, some of those weren't tackled during our days in Elementary and secondary education.

This book enlightens me about the political situation that made our beloved National Hero, Jose Rizal to take a step that opposed the oppression brought to our ancestors by the Spaniards. In chapter 4 of the book clearly explains the unlawful act of the Spaniards to our ancestors. There was this called "encomienda" that was originated in Spain, this was a feudal institution that gives rewards for generals and conquerors who were that time achieved something for the country, Spain.

Thereafter, it was introduced in the West Indies and made a transformation that give priorities to the Spanish economic base, it was then a capitalist form. Later on, the time they came on the Philippines, they also implemented the regulations of encomienda in the country.

Legazpi, a Spanish national who was that time in Cebu, noticed that the people were earning products that was sufficient for their necessities. Spaniards seem took an advantage of Filipinos since during that time, they were lacked in knowledge. According to Constantino, In the past, Filipino historians were enslaved by Spanish and American historiography in order to respond to and write about Philippine history.

During that time, many scholars were determined at the time to go beyond their training and enlighten Filipinos in order to expose and correct historical misconceptions. While scholars contributed to the liberation of Filipino minds from the Spanish period, they also maintained a strong American Colonial Historiography. Others showed their patriotism by idealizing other national leaders and projecting well-known heroes' heroic deeds. They did not realize that in order to give history a nationalist perspective, some of these men's roles had to be scrutinized and evaluated critically.

Filipino scholars have recently been pressured by nationalists to dispel some myths about Filipino American relations. These scholars' work was still primarily motivated by objectivity, and thus did not fall within the scope of essentially liberating scholarship, due to their limited influence.

To put it another way, the task of correcting historical misconceptions was not undertaken as part of a larger effort to liberate the Filipino mind from colonial education's shackles.

On the other hand, some of these specialized studies have provided new insights into specific periods or aspects of our history. The Philippines did not have public education until , and even then, the curriculum was controlled by the church. The colony's limited higher education was entirely controlled by the clergy, but by the s, many sons of the wealthy had been sent to Europe to study. In the liberal atmosphere, nationalism and a desire for reform flourished. The Propaganda Movement arose from this talented group of overseas Filipino students.

Spanish friars discovered evidence of the Katipunan's plans in August , forcing its leaders to act prematurely. It took two years of counterinsurgency warfare and some wise political concessions to break the back of the nationalist resistance.

The Philippine Commission, which had previously served as both the legislature and the governor-cabinet, generals were elevated to the upper house of a bicameral legislature in The United States' efforts to achieve economic equality were more modest and unsuccessful.

The Philippines' preparation for democratic self-government by the United States had an inherent contradiction that was perhaps not recognized at the time. Transferring governmental authority to those capable of carrying it out was incompatible with establishing a social and economic foundation for political democracy. Filipino leaders took advantage of the opportunities for self- government that the Americans provided them quickly and effectively.

On November 15, , the Commonwealth was established. They were overwhelmingly elected. The purpose of the commonwealth period was to prepare for economic and political independence, as well as to perfect democratic institutions. The transition was not easy even before the tragic events of World War II.

It is hard not to disagree with Renato Constantino's previous Philippine historiography and other historians' methods. However, each historian has a point of view from which he examines past events, and this viewpoint influences in some extent the weight he gives to one fact over another. Whether the historian will criticize based on acknowledged heroes whose true role in the history of the Filipino people has not often been critically examined, or one who will use objective history, which includes the retailing of facts, in the hopes of maintaining historical objectivity.

Constantino's analysis of the Filipinos' miseducation by the American- created educational system, which instilled the colonial master's benevolence, has been liberating in many ways.

Filipinos were gradually trained to see the American colonizers as their benefactors as a result of their miseducation under the American colonial regime, and to allow themselves to be exploited by the Americans. This exploitation sparked a new wave of resistance, raising people's awareness of the source of their misery, the colonial relationship. The book then becomes a "people's history," with the following goal in mind "In the history of these struggles, we find certain laws of development that give us a better understanding of reality and can guide us to higher forms of struggle for the people's cause.

Philippine history benefit is that it provides a thread of continuity for the facts of the Filipino nation's development. The historian's task, according to Constantino, is to trace the pattern that gives meaning to the historical record's disparate events, as if it were one emerging from the events themselves.

His determinist historical theory, on the other hand, will not allow it. In Twentieth Century, the treatment suffers less in this regard than earlier periods, at least in terms of its presentation of the true motivating forces behind American colonialism, which are primarily economic in nature, and of the colonial regime's efforts to create a benevolent image in the minds of Filipinos, aided by the Filipino elite's alliance in the exploitation of the masses.

In his portrayal of Spanish colonial society and the revolution, Constantino is far less successful. It is true, this era has received less attention than the twentieth century in many ways. The rigidity of the Marxist framework places numerous limitations on Constantino's serious analysis of the development of the Philippines under Spanish Domination, and not all can be addressed here. The absence of private property in the western sense before the arrival of the Spaniards is highlighted in the discussion of pre-Hispanic society.

Most historians, on the other hand, will find the argumentation used to prove that feudalism did not exist in the Philippines to be extremely tortuous and tortured reasoning. True, early accounts contain numerous ambiguities that make determining the precise organization of the classes in the sixteenth century difficult. Constantino explains the complex system of dependency and compulsory services as a rendering of services primarily to the community, with the chief receiving them only as a symbol of the community, which strikes me as more of a verbal ruse than a genuine explanation, and no supporting evidence is provided.

Though there is no doubt that the barangay's basic organization was familial in origin, it is clear that by the sixteenth century, these barangays had outgrown their familial or kinship structures.

There are even more complicated discussions of the development of classes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The attempt to turn Bonifacio into proletariat is not repeated by Constantino. Because the masses instinctually identified Bonifacio and his companions. Sep 23, Shoshanna rated it really liked it Shelves: Jun 23, Claudette rated it it was amazing Shelves: One of the best books on Philippine history!

Jan 05, ana luisa Porras rated it it was amazing. Aug 11, Ferdinand, Jr. For only if they are armed with a concrete understanding of Philippine reality can the Filipino people act correctly to change that reality. And this understanding can come about by a systematic and patriotic effort to synthesize the experience of the past in order to obtain a concret Excerpt from Ch. And this understanding can come about by a systematic and patriotic effort to synthesize the experience of the past in order to obtain a concrete vision of the future.

History, then, should serve the purpose of integrating seemingly isolated facts and events into a coherent historical process so that bby view of the totality of social reality may be achieved.

Only then can facts be really understood and not be merely known; only then can this understanding of facts become an understanding of society; only then can history be perceived as a unified process. Only then can history have a goal. And when history has a goal, the past ceases to dominate the present pawt to hold back the future.

Then history can be consciously made. Probably the best history book I have ever read in my entire life. Jul 01, Che is currently reading it. Jun 16, Carene Gay is currently reading it. Oct 06, Maryam rated it it was amazing.

I have never been this angry with dead people. But seriously, reading this was an eye-opening experience. Apr 14, Jolee Ann rated it it was amazing. Jul 08, Marck Abular rated it it was amazing. Jun 13, Benedict marked it as to-read. Jul 01, Mada Angeles added it.