Submitted by: Shaine Christian Ocampo Student Number: UG201800078

Course, Year and Section: II-9 Bachelor of Social Science Education

Subject: Historiography (2S-SOC04) Submitted to: Prof. Ma. Victoria Colis

Republic of the Philippines History, Government and Civilization

The book was written by Gregorio F. Zaide, a Filipino historian, in 1970. The
book tackles the dawn of Philippine history up to the second term of Marcos presidency.
And at the last few chapters tackles about the government of the Philippines and
Philippines in national and international affairs.

Zaide used the linear approach of history writing, in which the events were all
events from pre-colonial to the early Marcos presidency, were connected like a thread.
The division of era in this book were the following: The pre-colonial period, the Spanish
colonization, the Philippine revolution and Independence, the Philippine-American war
and the American colonial era, the Commonwealth government, the Japanese
Occupation, the 3rd Republic of the Philippines and its Presidents until the second term of
Ferdinand Marcos as President, the government of the Philippines and the national
symbols. Therefore, the historian divided the chapters in Philippine history anchored in
the country’s colonial history.

One good thing I can infer about the book is the discussion of events in the book
every era using the different approaches, namely economic, social, political,
technological (because Zaide discussed the advances and technological advances in his
era), legal aspect (which it is evident in the last few chapters of the book), and cultural
aspect, which can be used to understand the thread of events in Philippine history.

Even though the book poses some commendable points throughout its division of
topics, there were some problems every reader of this book can encounter. The big
problem in the book was the Code of Kalantiaw, which was tackled from pages 46- 49,
because prior to this book, William Henry Scott, a historian, falsified the existence of the
Code in his dissertation in 1968, in which Gregorio F. Zaide was one of the panelists.

A problem that can be seen in the subtopic about Spanish colonial aims to the
Philippines, in page 75. Zaide wrote:

Spain had three aims in colonizing the Philippines, namely: (1) to spread
Christianity, (2) to acquire economic wealth; and (3) to achieve political glory. In short,
the Spanish colonial policy was guided by the three G’s: God, Gold, Glory.

Here lies the problem. If we will counterfactual it, Zaide made this passage
contradictory to the chapter prior to this. In his book, he wrote about a glimpse of the
dispute between Spain and Portugal regarding territory, motivated by imperialism and
economic glory.

Another problem a reader can be seen in his historiography about the American
colonization of the Philippines. First, in the last paragraph of his narrative of the Results
of the (Philippine-American) War in page 212, which he wrote:

. . . Although beaten in war by superior arms, the Filipino people did not give up their
independence ideal. They fought for a good cause which was not lost. As President
Wilson said: “No good cause is ever lost.”

The quote of Wilson in the last paragraph posed an issue of relevance to the topic,
and it poses the biases in part of the historian, thus, the issues of subjectivity. Another
thing is not highlighting the war atrocities of the Americans, which was portrayed all
throughout the chapter of Philippine-American War as a powerful and advanced, an
image further enhanced in the American colonial rule chapter in the book. Another thing
is portraying the image of America as a savior. In reality, the American dream of
imperialism was hid on its colonial policies and positive influences in the Filipinos at the
time of their rule.

Another problem in the book is the wiping out of necessary factors why the
Filipinos at the time of Japanese occupation still hopes for America and disliked the
Japanese occupants. All throughout the chapter (pages 268-281), this is the missing link
in the question of why the Filipinos, holds on to the promise of America, which cannot be
directly compensated by the so called American Heritage, which was discussed in the
book prior to the Japanese occupation era. Also, the lacking of necessary details in the
chapter about the lifestyle during Japanese era was evident.

In this sense, the problems regarding the biases of Zaide’s historiography was
evident in this book, which should be compensated by other books because using it alone
will pose an issue of subjectivity and biases to the part of the learners, because
corroboration is a must. Even though the book can still be used as a learning material, it
is not advisable anymore for today’s academe.
 The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines: A Pictorial History

The book was written by Ricardo T. Jose and Lydia Yu- Jose. It was published in
1997. The book tackles the history of Japanese Occupation in the Philippines from the
year 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War which lasted from 1939 up to 1945.

The main approach of the historiography of the book employed was the linear
approach in which there is a beginning, which particularly discussed in the introductory
part of the book, and an end, which is discussed in the last chapter of the book. This part
had given the circumstances of events before the war had happened. As we can see, the
book highlighted many aspects in understanding the picture of the situation provided
before the subject matter of the book. The authors mentioned the political and economic
aspects around the world, particularly in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific which
became necessary factors in the occurrence of the Second World War. Thus, the authors
explained the roots of the war in political, economic and social approaches.

The book heavily utilized the primary sources, which refers to the pictures
relevant per chapter, which entices the reader to interpret the subject matter of the book
using the depiction of those pictures. One good thing the authors did was that it used
pictures with utmost relevance to every chapter where it was located.

Also, the authors used the pictures to give the readers a good avenue to do
causations about the events prior, and during the Japanese occupation. And identifying
the necessities and contingencies in every chapters. The pictures were primarily used
throughout the book to form the causation process about its subject matter.

And the book employs the “show don’t tell” method of narration, wherein the
interpretation will be in the hands of the reader. This has its both advantageous and
disadvantageous. It is advantageous because the reader will grasp at the picture of the
chapter through the primary sources use, but the problem lies on what will be the
interpretation of the reader, and his/her description of the Japanese occupation through
pictures.
 Also, the book is a good learning material in studying the Japanese occupation,
but it shall have other books to be used with as well, for corroborative evidences, and to
compensate well the description of the pictures presented in this book.