Teodoro A. Agoncillo
Teodoro A. Agoncillo (November 9, 1912 – January 14, 1985) was one of the pre-eminent Filipino historians of the 20th century. He and his contemporary Renato Constantino were among the first Filipino historians who earned renown for promoting a distinctly nationalist point of view of Filipino history (nationalist historiography). He was also an essayist and a poet.
Life
Born in Lemery, Batangas, Agoncillio obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of the Philippines in 1934 and a master's degree in the arts from the same university the following year. He earned his living as a linguistic assistant at the Institute of National Language and as an instructor at the Far Eastern University and the Manuel L. Quezon University. In 1956, he published his seminal work, Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the Katipunan, a history of the 1896 Katipunan-led revolt against Spanish rule and its leader, Andres Bonifacio. He garnered acclaim for this book, as well as criticisms from more conservative historians discomforted by the work's nationalist, perhaps even Marxist bent.
In 1958, Agoncillo was invited to join the faculty of the Department of History of his alma mater, the University of the Philippines. He remained with the university until his retirement in 1977, chairing the Department of History from 1963 to 1969. Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal named Agoncillo as a member of the National Historical Institute in 1963. He served in this capacity until his death in 1985.
Agoncillo's History of the Filipino People, first published in 1960, remains a popular standard textbook in many Filipino universities, as are many of Agoncillo's other works. This is despite Agoncillo's controversial tone and for his perceived leftist bent. Gregorio Zaide, Teodoro Agoncillo, Reynaldo Ileto and Renato Constantino stand as the most prominent 20th century Filipino historians to emerge during the post-war period. It must be noted however, that Agoncillo's works suffer from uneven scholarship throughout, especially with his use (or especially, non-use) of reliable historical sources.
Works
The Revolt of the Masses - (a biography of Andres Bonifacio)
Malolos Crisis of the Republic - (sequel to Revolt of the Masses which discusses the events from Biak-na-Bato to the end of the Philippine-American War)
The Fateful Years - (Philippine history during World War II)
The History of the Filipino People
“I do not believe in this command leadership. Dangerous doctrine 'yan ha. Because you cannot know everything your men do.”
“A good historian always provides for an exit in case of fire. "Probably," "allegedly," "it is possible...”
“You see, this is one big defect of many people... They see nothing good in people they don't like. And this is dangerous.”
“Who is this historian who can say that he's telling the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth. Nobody, because you're human.”
“No matter how good a President you are, if the historian is hostile to you, he will emphasize your errors and break down your merits... without departing from the facts.”
“I said that great men had a sense of history. But when you say you have a great sense of history it does not follow that you are great.”
“Everyone is a historian. Everyone is his own historian.”
“The role of the Filipino historian must be the role of all historians. There is, of course, [Filipino history], but as rule, the role of the historian is to tell the truth-- in so far as documents are concerned.”
“Politeness is good only in social relations, because to be polite in literary or academic [matters] would be to be dishonest. Ipinasa mo out of politeness? Our of kwan to the father or...No!”
“It is useless to think of what would have happened.”
“Nothing is lost to you by being polite. You can be polite and courteous without losing anything.”
“That is why I'm not in favor of the UP today which is too big, because the standard goes down. The reason is that the bigger a University becomes, the bigger the problems regarding the faculty.”
“Maganda ang kastila. It is beautiful, lalo pa kung nagmumura.”
“There are two kinds of faculty members in the UP. Those who are honored to be in the UP and those who honor the UP. I belong to the last.”
“We always depend on the government to do this and that for us. No government can do that. Always it is with the cooperation of the people. The people must cooperate with the government. The government will think of ways to improve the welfare of the people, but the people will have to help themselves.”
“We Filipinos are individualistic in a different way from American individualism. Our individualism is selfish. And individualism ng Americans, iba-- iyong liberty, iyong freedom of individuals.”
“It's stupidity to continue using a method which is proven to be useless [and] fruitless. It's a waste of manpower.”
“They know that Marcos will not give in, so why continue? The only thing that [people have to do] is not pay taxes. Wher will the government get money? Nanghihinayang ako sa life na nawala, because I know Marcos will not give in.”
“I am not stamped by the majority. The herd may go anywhere I will not go with them.”
“The trouble is that the Marxists in our country are ignorant of the real Marxism... They supress... Phony Marxists they twist [data] because they have pre-conceived notions which they want to [prove]”
“There is a great similarity between legal evidence and historical evidence. The only difference lies in the fact that in legal evidence it is the judge who determines whether the account of a witness is acceptable or not... The historian is prosecuting attorney and defense attorney and the judge all rolled into one, and he is the narrator and the interpreter.”
“You should see my personality on every page of my book, because I am the author. The book reflects the personality of the author. Do you expect my work to reflect the personality of another?”
“Maraming myths kasi. Maraming nag-teach ng history, they do not really read. They do not know of historical methodology. They do not read books about it.”
“History deals with the past, not with the future. We use history to avoid the mistakes of the past, not to recreate the very same events. You cannot.”
“In historical methodology, it says that the more private a communication is, the more authoritative it is.”
“You're not sure that you will have all the documents. That is why the conclusions in history is not final.”
“Halimbawa ako, you are discussing two sides of a question and your sympathy lies with one. Sabi ko, makikita mo ang bias is towards the other, pero sa akin it's alright. Ang masama ang hindi mo ibigay yung floor to the other side. In other words, instead of saying objectivity, impartiality ang sabihin because impartiality means that you give the other fellow a chance to be heard, hindi yung hindi mo siya pinagbigyan.”
“History is written by every generation. Every generation writes its own history using the same sources. The interpretations vary according to time.”
“In the time of writing you have to forget the present, if you can do that. Try to live in the period you are writing.”
“History is re-creation while literature is creation.”
“The attitude of a student in history should be do not accept anything until proven otherwise. Doubt everything including your parentage! Including your parentage!”
“A biography should be faithful to the truth. I do not believe that a biography of a man should be all praises, it should be both [praise and criticism] because it is not bad to show the human side of a person. You make him human by painting the defects.”
“The people who criticize me are ignorant of what history is, because the very fact that the student of history chooses what to include and what not to include in his work, is proof that history is never objective.”
“What history is not biased? Show me a historian, a real historian who is not biased!...History is never objective.”