GenEd Philippine History — LET Practice Questions

Emilio Jacinto is called the "Brains of the Katipunan" because he wrote the Kartilya — the small booklet of rules and ideals that every new Katipunero had to learn. He also drafted the group's code and edited Kalayaan, the Katipunan's newspaper. He was only about 19 when he became Bonifacio's closest adviser. The trap here is Apolinario Mabini, who has a very similar nickname — "Brains of the Philippine Revolution" — but he served Aguinaldo's revolutionary government, not the secret Katipunan society that came before it.

Historians have long debated where the first Catholic Mass in the Philippines was celebrated on March 31, 1521. Two locations are claimed: Limasawa (in Southern Leyte) and Butuan/Masao (in Mindanao). The Philippine government's National Historical Commission has officially sided with Limasawa, based on the journals of Pigafetta and other expedition members which describe a small island matching Limasawa's location and features. Local Butuan tradition continues to dispute this, however, citing other evidence.

'Relacion de las Costumbres de los Tagalos' (1589) was written by Franciscan friar Juan de Plasencia, who lived among the Tagalogs in the early Spanish colonial period. The document describes pre-Hispanic Tagalog society in detail: social classes (datu, maharlika, timawa, alipin), customary laws, marriage practices, religious beliefs, and political organization. Despite its colonial-Christian frame, Plasencia's work is one of the most valuable primary sources for understanding indigenous Philippine society as it existed at the moment of Spanish contact. Filipino historians read it carefully, both for what it captures and for the colonial bias it carries.