First of 2 parts

IN the Philippines, history as the study of the past is translated as 'Kasaysayan.' More than a telling of the past or its details, Zeus Salazar emphasizes that it came from the root word 'saysay,' which in itself has multiple meanings: it is narrative or a story as it also means relevance, importance, sense and, incidentally, meaning. In that sense, for Filipinos, even if the details are also important, the narrative or the meaning that we get out of the stories is more important and is often the only thing that is retained by people.