“To The Brave Sons of the Philippines”: A Case of Mistaken Identity in Writing Revolutionary History

William Henry Scott

William Henry Scott

• William Henry Scott (1921 – 1993) was a historian of the Gran Cordillera Central and Prehispanic Philippines. He personally rejected the description anthropologist as applying to himself.

• Scott held a Bachelor's degree from Yale University, a Masters from Columbia University and a PhD from the University of Santo Tomas. Scott's dissertation was published by the University of Santo Tomas Press as Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History in 1968. A revised and expanded second edition was published in 1984.

William Henry Scott

• Scott's first well known academic work is The Discovery of the Igorots. This is a history of the Cordillera mountain region over several centuries of Spanish contact, constructed from contemporary Spanish sources. Scott argues that the difficulties the Spaniards encountered extending their rule in the face of local resistance resulted in the inhabitants of the region being classified as a 'savage' race separate to the more tractable lowland Filipinos.

William Henry Scott

• He debunked the Kalantiaw legend in this book. Datu Kalantiaw was the main character in a historical fabrication written in 1913 by Jose E. Marco. Through a series of failures by scholars to critically assess Marco's representation, the invented legend was adopted as actual history. As a result of Scott's work, Kalantiaw is no longer a part of the standard history texts in the Philippines.

William Henry Scott

• Scott died unexpectedly on 4 October 1993, aged 72, in St Luke's Hospital, Quezon City, following what was considered to have been a routine gall bladder operation. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint Mary the Virgin, Sagada, Mountain Province on 10 October 1993.

TIME FRAME…

• This article covers events on the late 1800s Philippines. Basically, it talks of a document during the time of Philippine Revolution against Spain – 1896 onwards.

SUMMARY

• “To The Brave Sons of the Philippines” was made by a Malabar on 1897.

• It was an appeal to expand the Katipunan to Ilocos and the Northern provinces and to resort to guerilla warfare, not to obtain independence but to force Spain to grant political and economic concessions to her Philippine colony.

SUMMARY

• In it’s publishing in La Politica de España en Filipinas (W. Retana), “Malabar” changed to “Emilio Aguinaldo”.

• In The Philippine Insurrection against United States (John R.M. Taylor), it had a date and a place: Biac-na-bato, September 6, 1897.

• Reprinted by Pedro Achutegui and Miguel Bernad as documents in their 1972 Aguinaldo and the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

SUMMARY

• Historians commented on the significance of the article.• Foreman, says it is the basic goals of revolution.• Achutegui and Bernad narrowed the address of the

manifesto to the “Tagalog nation” rather than to the “sons of the Philippines”.

• Constantino sees it as evidence to Aguinaldo’s bourgeois vacillation from his stated revolutionary goal of complete independence.

SUMMARY

• The manifesto was NOT written by Aguinaldo on July or September, but by an Isabelo de los Reyes in Malaban on 30May 1987.

• Isabelo was a small-time Ilocano businessman in Tondo and a professional journalist.

• “Malabar” manifesto contains characteristic of his style.• The contents of the Malabar manifesto was spelled out in

de los Reyes’ Memoria, specifically in chapters III and IV.

SUMMARY

• III. The Present State of the Insurrection – this chapter basically talks on the garrisoning of the Spanish in towns. It also proposes the way of fighting against the Spanish through “guerilla warfare” in reference to Spanish-Cuban war.

• IV. Program of the Revolution – this chapter talks of the “aspirations” of the Philippines.

SUMMARY

• Isabelo de los Reyes was imprisoned because of Memoria. He was released from Bilibid on May 17. With his wife dead, he and his children moved to their father-in-law in Malabon, edited “Memoria”, attended a Katipunan wedding, and wrote the Malabar manifesto.

• “Aguinaldo makes my program his.”

– Isabelo de los Reyes

SIGNIFICANT POINTS RAISED IN THE ARTICLE

• Emilio Aguinaldo was not the author of the Malabar manifesto “To The Brave Sons of the Philippines”.

• False facts emerge with the various transpositions, citations, and use of the Malabar manifesto.

• For one to aim for political and economic concession rather than complete independence means that he recognizes that Philippines still can’t stand alone.

• There was a great divide between the Luzon people and everyone else. It is evident in the point raised by Achutegui and Bernad.

RELEVANCE/IMPORTANCE TO OUR SUBJECT

• “To the Brave Sons of the Philippines” (Malabar manifesto) is one important document during the revolutionary period. If one studies this document, one would have the idea of the conditions of the Philippines during that period. Also, with this document we are able to appreciate the skill and intellect of a Filipino writer during that particular time.