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In the
summer of 1521, five ships and 237 men that had been
sailing from Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain for year and
a half arrived at Limasawa, a sliver of land at the tip
of Leyte, a neighboring island. The contingent was led
by Ferdinand Magelland (Fernso de Magalhanes), a native
of Sabrosa, Portugal who, despite his noble lineage and
being raised as a page in the court of Queen Leonor, had
switched allegiances to the Spanish King after the green
monster of envy thwarted his chances at promotion. He
was bent on finding a westward sea route to the Spice
Islands.
Unimpressed by the tiny island of Limasawa, they sailed
on upon the local chieftain's redirection to arrive on
April 27, 1521 at the port of Sugbo, which was
mistranscribed by Pigafetta, Magellan's Italian scribe
and chronicle, into Zubuth, Zugbo, then Zubu, and
finally Cebu. This propitious mistake was etched forever
in what is widely considered to be the beginnings of the
Philippines' written history.
Highly civilized as they were, the natives played
gracious host to the new arrivals, led by the local
chieftain of the port area Rajah Humabon and his queen,
Juana. They were used to traders arriving and engaging
in business with them, not unlike the joint
international ventures of today's booming economy. The
Spaniards were wines and dines, and Pigafetta noted the
use of Chinese and Thai porcelain service.
A mass was celebrated by Magellan's chaplain, Father
Pedro Valderrama, OSA. The first mass drew a mixed
crowd: on one hand the armored Castillian newcomers with
curious vestments chanting in a new tongue, and on the
other the g-strings clad tattooed natives gazing in awe
at the grandiose spectacle. The ubiquitous symbol of
Christianity, a crucifix, was hastily fashioned and
planted on the site on April 14, 1521, claiming the land
in the name of Christ. Centuries later, the same spot is
now synonymous with Cebu, as the monument of Magellan's
Cross.
A decidedly Spanish kiosk was built in 1834 to house it,
octagonal in shape with lime-plastered walls and an
ondiola-tiled roof. The present day cross is stark and
simple: unremarkable dark but larger than life. In fact,
this is its outer casing of tindalo wood (bayong), built
around the original bonglas (a species of narra). The
outer hollow shell was necessitated to protect the
original from the habit of the pious to chip off pieces
of the cross, to which they attributed great powers.
One may give money to several old ladies holding cheap
candles to dance in front of the cross, muttering your
petitions. Once paid, they slide into a trance and with
a shuffling of their feet to an ancient ghost beat,
deliver your prayer to the Almighty. Amidst the noise of
the motor vehicles plying the street on which it lies,
aptly named Magallanes, the cross still acts as a
conduit of faith, a symbol of the Cebuano's piety,
weathering 400 years pf turbulent change.
A week after their arrival, 800 natives were converted
to the faith of the visitors after witnessing what one
account says, a tangible miracle. However, it is more
plausible to attribute this to Magellan's leadership by
example: he was knwon to be fair and generous. Still
other speculate that the grandiose spectacle of the
first mass, to the native's eyes a refreshing treat, and
the idea of monotheism, a novel idea at the time,
compounded to convince the early Cebuanos to bring idols
for a mass burning.
The Spanish-Cebuano entente did not last for long,
though, for from the across the island, a voice of
dissent echoed. The warlike people of Mactan, led by
their chieftain Lapu-Lapu (for whom the present-day city
in the island is named), challenged the unitary order
that Magellan began to impose on what was until that
time a decentralized system of autonomous communities.
A man of action, and fresh from his victories in Africa,
the Moluccas, and seven years in India, Magellan vowed
to silence the recalcitrant chieftain. In the dawn of
April 27, 1521, a better-armed Spanish force of around
60 was slaughtered by the more numerous Mactan warriors.
In the resulting melee, Magellan lay dead at the feet of
Lapu-Lapu, sending his once proud assemblage home,
reduce now to a single ship and 18 men. They arrive at
the same port from whence on September 8, 1522, quite
diminished, but completing the first circum-navigation
of the globe.
Lapu-Lapu, on the other hand, lived on to be regarded as
the first Filipino hero, and the face on a true rarity:
the one centavo coin, the foundation of the Philippine
monetary stability. He is also the other face of the
Cebuano's seemingly schizophrenic personality, with
Humabon's pacifist mien as the other half.
The site of the battle is approximated today by a statue
of the warrior chieftain, surrounded by a vintage
Cebuano delight: the Sutukil, a chain of fresh seafood
restaurants, and a few feet from world class hotel
chains that both, ironically, welcome foreign nationals
with much gusto. |
