October 25, 2011
NCCA ARTICLES
THE Philippine National Historical Society, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) launched last September 5 the book “Batis ng Kasaysayan 2011: The Movement for Indepen dence in the Philippines (1896-1898) at the NCCA’s Tanghalang Leandro V. Locsin”
The book is a research guide to the manuscript collection, Cuerpo de Vigilancia, which was purchased by the NCCA on 1996. As originally conceived by the then Committee on Historical Research, the idea was not to translate all the manuscripts, but to provide a brief summary of each item in the collection. It consists of nineteenth century official Spanish documents, dated 1896-1898, and includes manuscripts, printed materials (impresos), confidential written reports (informes) by intelligence agents of the Cuerpo de Vigilancia, newspaper clippings (recortes) from Spanish and Philippine dailies, and photographs (fotografias).
According to Dr. Bernardita Churchill, the book’s Project Director and Executive Editor, “it is expected that the summaries will assist researchers who would like to consult specific documents needed for their research. It should be noted that it is still necessary for the researcher to read the entire document to get all the details needed for the research and to weave them into a coherent historical essay.”
It is also originally known as the “Katipunan and Rizal Documents”. Its Katipunan files include photographs of and reports on Andres Bonifacio and other filibusteros and revolucionarios implicated in the Katipunan phaso of the revolution, while the Jose Rizal files include a formal photograph of Rizal and a photograph of his execution.
The book project was undertaken by the NCCA’s Committee on Historical Research.
